Freshwater mussels of the family Unionidae, also known as naiads, have inhabited fresh waters around the world for the last 400 million years. Here in Texas, the presence of these unique mollusks ensures our water quality, helps support the worldwide pearl industry, and, in a quirk of history, influenced the founding of San Angelo. Yet their continued survival is by no means certain, due to overharvesting, environmental degradation, and the rapid spread of exotic mussel species. To help professional biologists and amateur naturalists know and preserve these mollusks, this book provides baseline reference material for all 52 species of freshwater mussels in Texas. It focuses particularly on the unionids, with brief descriptions of other freshwater bivalves. A typical entry includes the following information: • Scientific and common names • Distribution (with a range map) • Size • Shell • Shell teeth • External color • Internal color • Soft tissues • Habitat • Spawning • Glochidia • Hosts • Economic importance • Comments Color photos illustrate each species. In addition to the descriptions, the authors offer general discussions of freshwater mussel anatomy, biology, ecology, and commercial uses.
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most comprehensive resource on freshwater mussels in Texas,
By Cindy Contreras (San Marcos, TX United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Freshwater Mussels of Texas (Learn About Texas) (Paperback)
Bob Howells is "The Mussel Guy" for Texas. This book, co-written with Raymond Neck and Harold Murray, is the most comprehensive publication on the status of freshwater mussels in Texas. This is a valuable resource for aquatic ecologists interested in mussels, which are a conservation concern due to declining abundance across the state. This guide presents species accounts with black-and-white photographs on each species present in Texas. Descriptions, geographic distributions, and ecological information is included. Introductory material covers everything from mussel anatomy and behavior to collecting gear and commercial uses. The guide is indexed and fully referenced. Several pages of color plates in the appendix are a nice extra. No self-respecting student of Texas mussels should be without it!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must have Muscle identification book for Texas,
By Coderpitt "Pitt" (Texas) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Freshwater Mussels of Texas (Learn About Texas) (Paperback)
As part of my job, I now need to be able to identify shell fish found in rivers and streams in Texas. There's some websites out there with photos, but this is a great resource to have when I go in the field, or for when people send me photos looking for an identification.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent fieldguide,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Freshwater Mussels of Texas (Learn About Texas) (Paperback)
Wonderful, clear guide to freshwater mussels. Will assist id in field or from specimen from someone else. Illustrates our current water state all over the country. We will loose them if everyone doesnt know and do something to help.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
