Classification: State Threatened
Interior
Exterior
NOTE: Hover over the bold words for definitions or see the Glossary.
Say described the tidewater mucket in 1817. The ventral margin of the shell is tightly curved from anterior to posterior giving the shell a somewhat circular shape. The beaks are inflated and rise above the hinge line. The periostracum may be olive green or yellow to golden brown often with fine green rays over the entire surface of the shell. The pseudocardinal teeth are lamellate and the lateral teeth are slightly curved. There is no interdentum. The nacre is typically bluish-white and iridescent and with an occasional pink or salmon wash.
Shell Anatomy
The tidewater mucket has been recorded from coastal freshwaters from the Savannah River Drainage in Georgia north into Nova Scotia (Johnson 1970). In North Carolina, this species has been documented from the Chowan, Roanoke, Tar, Neuse, and Waccamaw drainages.
Distribution by County: Bertie Co. (Cashie River Subbasin); Chowan Co. (Chowan River Basin); Columbus Co. (Waccamaw River Basin); Gates Co. (Chowan River Basin); Hertford Co. ( Meherrin River Subbasin); Northampton Co. (Meherrin River Subbasin); Washington Co. (Roanoke River Basin) NOTE: All headwater areas that flow into these occupied habitats should receive special management.
General Life History For Mussels