Fresh Water Mussel Image Gallery -- Illinois State Museum

Plethobasus cyphyus (Sheepnose)
The sheepnose mussel shell is oblong, thick, and grows to five inches in length. The smooth surface is yellow or light brown, darkening in adults. This specimen shows the knobs or tubercles and the furrow between them and the posterior ridge. This species lives in the gravel or mixed sand and gravel in medium to large rivers. It has occurred throughout Illinois except for the Chicago area.
Conservation status: endangered in Illinois
Taxonomy: Order Unionoida; Superfamily Unionoidea; Family Unionidae; Subfamily Ambleminae

Collection of the Illinois State Museum, photograph by Karen Little
ISM Accession #: 667156

<b><i>Plethobasus cyphyus</i> (Sheepnose)</b>

Class Bivalvia : Subclass Paleoheterodonta : Genus Plethobasus

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