Mussels that produce a rope of snot...

What species produce the long mucus with the lure dancing at the end?

Are any native to Ohio, that produce this?

Lastly, can someone provide a picture, or a least a link to one (preferrably an Ohio species if possible)?

We are working on a project at work and need a picture to model one after.

Thanks,

Andy

Someone who might be able to answer that question is Lisie Kitchel of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. She's the mussel expert that came and talked at our last Southeastern Wisconsin Native Fish Club meeting. Her email is: Lisie.Kitchel@Wisconsin.gov, and her phone number is (608) 266-5248.

Brian

It sounds like the conglutanate of a Lampsilis species. What drainage were you in? As with many things, right now it is a shot in the dark without some locational information since Ohio is pretty diverse, especially with species that have lures. Lampsilis have regionally diverse lures and I've seen different lures of the 'same' species in adjacent watersheds. A picture has been tossing around recently of a tidal Lampsilis that is found pretty deep wondering what it might be trying to mimic. There are a couple of different places on the web to check out lures. Unio Gallery is one of the best and may have some congeneric species with similar lures. NC State has recently been putting up video and pictures from their lab. I know there are many Lampsilis lure images from Big South Fork on the web too.

Matt,

I guess I didn't decribe what I am looking for well.

I didn't see one but we are doing a mussel program at work and we are trying to make a model of a species (preferrably one from Ohio) that makes the "conglutanate of a Lampsilis species". The uniod gallery has no picture of the mussel itself, just the conglutanate.

What I need is a picture, link or someone visual of a mussel species that uses the conglutanate. Or at least the name of a species so we can do an image search.

Andy

Most Lampsilis keep their conglutinate on their gill branch and have mantle lures. The species that you probably have movie footage is the orange nacred mucket, Lampsilis perovalis, which is not found in Ohio. So I don't think there's any Ohio Lampsilis that have external conglutinates... You might want to look at other genera. The Strophitus that Unio Gallery has pictures of would probably work very well.

Todd

It wouldn't surprise me if Elliptio dilatata and E. crassidens have clear 'snotty' conglutanates like E. complanata...Never really hear much about the boring infection strategy species. What about Ptychobranchus fasciolaris? They have packaged superconglutanates, but are they packed and released or packaged and then dangled? Todd is right though about no Lampsilis sp. having lures that are not disconnected in Ohio. Your best bet would be a generic minnow lure for a demo/model.

I have looked and looked and looked, but never found a pic of fasciolaris. Drives me crazy

There's a bunch of juicy looking articles tho, on that JNABS dealio.

Todd

I believe the animals you are referring to are in the genus Hamiota (formerly Lampsilis) and only occur in the Mobile, Apalachicola, and Ochlockonee River drainages in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and maybe Mississippi. Specifically, H. altilis, H. australis, H. perovalis, and H. subangulata. You probably should be able to find photos of each online as I know 2 are easily available.

There has been some speculation that some other Lampsiline species may also produce them, but I don't believe this has been confirmed.

What species produce the long mucus with the lure dancing at the end?

Are any native to Ohio, that produce this?

Lastly, can someone provide a picture, or a least a link to one (preferrably an Ohio species if possible)?

We are working on a project at work and need a picture to model one after.

Thanks,

Andy