- Range:
Blue = current range
Hollow circles = former range
- Status in Kansas:
Common in east half of Kansas
- North American Status:
(From NatureServe)
This species is found in
the Mississippian Region, Gulf Coastal Region, formerly not extending beyond the Guadalupe
River system, Texas, but recently found in the Rio Grande System; where it is possibly
introduced. It is considered stable throughout most of its range. Its range includes
Mississippian Region (as far north as the southern tip of Illinois, southeastern Missouri,
and western Kentucky, and west into southeastern Kansas, eastern Arkansas, and western
Texas), Gulf Coastal Region (southern Georgia to eastern Texas), formerly not extending
beyond the Guadalupe River system, Texas, but recently found in the Rio Grande System;
possibly introduced. In the Coosa River basin in Georgia, it is known historically from
the Coosa, Etowah, Oostanaula, and Conasauga River drainages but is very rare in the state
today.
- Comments:
The bleufer is best known for its brilliant purple nacre which gives it the
scientific name purpuratus. It is sometimes called “purple shell.” Externally,
the bleufer has a very dark periostracum and a slight wing arising on its dorsal side. It
is one of the larger mussels in Kansas. The female is more inflated and truncated toward
the posterior end. Because of its colored nacre and large size, it has been used in the
past for jewelry inlays. It is most confused with the pink heelsplitter. In similar sized
shells, the bleufer has a more inflated, heavier shell and the ventral margin is nearly
straight. The bleufer appears to be a habitat generalist and can be found in pools,
riffles and runs of rivers and is often present in reservoirs and below low-head dams.
This is a southern Mississippi River Basin species and is at the northwest periphery of
its range in southeast Kansas.
- Fish Hosts:
freshwater drum
|
