MoWIN: Spring River Basin

Mussels are invertebrates, meaning that they do not have a backbone. Mussels feed by pulling water into their mouth and filtering food out of the water. You may have seen dead mussel shells along the side of a river. When mussels are alive, they bury themselves in the mud or gravel of a river. A lot of animals like river otters and raccoons feed on mussels. Mussels are very sensitive to polluted water, and the number of mussels in Missouri rivers has been declining over the years. Pictures of mussels and more information can be found at Southwest Missouri State University ’s Union Gallery at http://courses.smsu.edu/mcb095f/gallery/.

Out of these mussels, the rabbit's foot (Quadrula cylindrica cylindrica) and the western fanshell (Cyprogenia aberti) have localized distributions in the basin (Oesch 1984) while the Neosho mucket (Lampsilis rafinesqueana) is believed to be restricted to the basin (Pflieger 1989).

Common Name	Scientific Name
Paper floater	Anodonta imbecilis
Giant floater	Anodonta grandis grandis
Squaw foot	Strophitus undulatus undulatus
Elk toe	Alasmidonta marginata
Slipper shell	Alasmidonta viridis
White heel-splitter	Lasmigona complanata
Fluted shell	Lasmigona costata
Pistol-grip	Tritogonia verrucosa
Maple leaf	Quadrula quadrula
Rabbit's foot	Quadrula cylindrica cylindrica
Monkey face	Quadrula metanevra
Pimple-back	Quadrula pustulosa
Three-ridge	Amblema plicata plicata
Wabash pig-toe	Fusconaia flava
Ozark shell	Fusconaia ozarkensis
Round pig-toe	Pleurobema coccineum
Lady-finger	Elliptio dilata
Kidney-shell	Ptychobranchus occidentalis
Western fanshell	Cyprogenia aberti
Mucket	Actinonaias ligamentina carinata
Plea's mussel	Venustaconcha ellipsiformis
Fawn's foot	Truncilla donaciformis
Deer-toe	Truncilla truncata
Fragile paper shell	Leptodea fragilis
Liliput shell	Toxolasma parvus
Little purple	Toxolasma lividus glans
Pond mussel	Ligumia subrostrata
Slough sand shell	Lampsilis teres teres
Yellow sand shell	Lampsilis teres anodontoides
Fat mucket	Lampsilis radiata luteola
Neosho mucket	Lampsilis rafinesqueana
Pocketbook	Lampsilis ventricosa
Broken rays	Lampsilis reeviana brevicula
Purple pimpleback	Cyclonaias tuberculata
Black sand shell	Ligumia recta

A system-wide comprehensive invertebrate collection has not been done in the Spring River Basin, but there has been some invertebrate sampling in the watershed.

Sampling aquatic invertebrates in 1976 led the researchers to believe that the upper Spring River, the lower Spring River, the North Fork of the Spring River, Turkey Creek, and lower Center Creek had invertebrate communities indicative of polluted streams.