Cyrtonaias tampicoensis tecomatensis

Cyrtonaias tampicoensis tecomatensis NatureServe Explorer Species Reports — NatureServe Explorer is a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals and ecological communtities of the U.S and Canada. NatureServe Explorer provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, but includes common plants and animals too. NatureServe Explorer is a product of NatureServe in collaboration with the Natural Heritage Network.

FWS Digital Media Library — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Digital Library is a searchable collection of selected images, historical artifacts, audio clips, publications, and video. The Tampico pearlymussel is a large, bivalve (two-shelled) mussel with an oblong shell. The shell-length of the Tampico pearlymussel can be as long as 5 in (13 cm). The color of the outside of the shell ranges from a dull yellowish-brown to dark brown and black. The inside of the shell (or nacre) is lustrous, and can be colored purple, lavender, pink, salmon, or white. If the mussel contains a pearl, it is the same color. The Tampico pearlymussel ranges from northeastern Mexico to the Colorado and Brazos Rivers of Central Texas, with an important center of abundance in the watershed of the Rio Grande (a binational river). The Concho River in western Texas, or the “river of shells,” was named by early Spanish colonists in reference to a great historical abundance of the local population of this species. The endangered subspecies Cyrtonaias tampicoensis tecomatensis occurs in northeastern Mexico. Some populations