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- ›Heteroconchia
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- ›Unionoidea
Freshwater Pearl Mussels
Margaritiferidae
Margaritiferidae is a family of medium-sized freshwater mussels, aquatic bivalve molluscs in the order Unionida. It is the most threatened of all unionid families.
The family is sometimes referred to as the freshwater pearl mussel family, but "freshwater pearl mussel" more often applies to the species Margaritifera margaritifera. The name refers to the thick layer of nacre (mother of pearl) lining the interior of the shell of the species, which enables them to produce pearls.
2 branches of this family, most-observed first
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Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Margaritiferidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 84029.