Pink mucket

Lampsilis abrupta (Say, 1831)

Pink mucket
Lampsilis abrupta, INHS 13809. Tennessee River, Hardin County, Tennessee. Length: 3.6 inches (9.1 cm) for male (top), 2.9 inches (7.4 cm) for female (bottom).

Other common names: Ohio mucket, tan mucket, square mucket.

Key characters: A rounded to slightly elongate shell, thick, inflated, smooth, and yellowish brown; posterior end bluntly pointed in males, truncated in females.

Similar species: Higgins eye, mucketfatmucket, plain pocketbook, hickorynut.

Description: Shell round to elliptical, solid, and inflated. Anterior end rounded, posterior end bluntly pointed in males, truncated in females. Dorsal margin straight, ventral margin straight to slightly curved. Umbosturned forward and elevated above the hinge line. Beak sculpture, if visible, of three or four double-looped ridges. Shell smooth, yellow or yellowish green and rayless or with faint green rays. Length to 4 inches (10.2 cm).

Pink mucket distribution map 1992

Pseudocardinal teeth triangular, thick, divergent; two in the left valve, one in the right, occasionally with a smaller tubercular tooth in front. Lateral teeth short, heavy, and relatively thick. Beak cavity deep. Nacre pink or white, iridescent posteriorly.

Habitat: The lower Mississippi and Ohio rivers and their larger tributaries in gravel or sand.

Status: Federally Endangered.

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