About Ptychobranchus fasciolaris (Rafinesque, 1820)
Ptychobranchus fasciolaris is a species of freshwater mussel in the Unionidae family, the river mussels, and its common name is kidneyshell. This species is native to eastern North America, and its range includes much of the Mississippi River system. It occurs in the drainages of the Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers. The Canadian Species at Risk Act lists this species as an endangered species of Canada on the List of Wildlife Species at Risk. In Canada, the mussel is limited to Ontario, and remaining populations are only found in the Sydenham and Ausable Rivers and Lake Saint Clair. Populations in the United States are more stable than populations in Ontario. As with other Unionidae mussels, the larvae, called glochidia, use the gills, fins, or skin of a host fish to get nutrients during development. Ptychobranchus fasciolaris encloses its glochidia inside a membranous capsule called a conglutinate, which resembles an insect larva or small fish. When a host fish bites this capsule bait, the Ptychobranchus fasciolaris glochidia attach to the fish's gills and feed there.
