New Zealand freshwater mussel

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iNew Zealand freshwater mussel
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Subclass: Paleoheterodonta
Order: Unionoida
Family: Unionidae
Genus: Hyridella
Species: H. menziesi
Binomial name
Hyridella menziesi
(Gray, 1843)

The New Zealand freshwater mussel (Hyridella menziesi) is a freshwater mussel, found only in rivers, streams, lakes and ponds in New Zealand favouring firm fine sandy or muddy bottoms.

These bivalve shellfish grow to about 10 cm in length and are always coated with a thick, greenish-brown horny epidermis. They have an interesting juvenile stage in which the larval shellfish spends its early life attached to the body or fins of a freshwater fish.

The hinge has two small anterior pseudocardinals, plus a long lamellar lateral in the right valve, and one pseudocardinal plus two laterals in the left valve.

[edit] References

  • A B Powell, New Zealand Mollusca, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979) ISBN 0-00-216906-1
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