Customer Reviews

Freshwater Mussels Tennessee

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Don't be fooled by the Tennessee in the title, Parmalee's book is
a book for identifying freshwater mussels over one of the world's best areas for freshwater species, the US Southeast. I found it very helpful. True, the large maps cover Tennessee in detail but the smaller secondary maps give the US range - a terrifically useful extention of the utility of the book. Thorough descriptions and color photographs also make ID projects easier. Only two minor complaints: the species are listed in unillluminating alphabetical order and, secondly, sexual dimorphism is given little room in the species texts or photographs, even where it is extensive and a serious identification problem (as in, e.g., Lampsilis teres).

The Freshwater Mussels of Tennessee by Drs. Parmalee and Bogan would be a welcome addition to the library of any naturalist. It is a well written, authoritative text that can serve the reader equally well as a text book, general reference, or field guide. Two hundred and fourteen pages contain 129 species accounts of unionoids as well as accounts of three other species of bivalves, one member of Corbiculidae and two from the family Dreissenidae. There are 133 color plates. Each species account includes a color plate, range map, the synonymy, type locality, general distribution, Tennessee distribution, description, status, life history and ecology. This book covers both extant and extinct species of Tennessee's freshwater mussel fauna. Forty-eight pages cover broader topics as they relate to freshwater mussels such as their natural history, taxonomy, history of classification, ecology, faunal provinces, fauna within river systems, aboriginal and historic utilization, distribution records, and conservation through translocation. There are 31 pages of references.

I was given this book when I was 13. I was always fascinated at the diversity of shells I found along the river by my farm. After receiving this book I have collected/identified over 65 species from a shoal nearby the farm. They are mostly extirpated/extinct specimens (old valves been dead a long time around here) but to pick up a perfect Epioblasma propinqua, or E. lewisii (both extinct) from the mud gives me a better rush than bumping into a lion in thick brush! Many are gone from the rivers now, but even a greenhorn like me, armed with this book, can turn any malacologist's head with what you can find. This book has an unbelievable amount of knowledge and should be on anyones bookshelf if they are interested at all about the most diverse mussel assemblage on earth. My only complaint is that a section for similar species would greatly aid many. Even without, identification from scratch is time consuming to the new folks, but very, very doable!!!