Eastern Pearlshell (Magaritifera margaritifera)

Description	-Shell: 150 mm long, 65 mm high and 40 mm wide -Periostracum*: brown in juveniles, black in adults -Nacre**: white or whitish, with or without pink or purple suffusions
Distribution	-Atlantic drainage of North America from Goose Bay, Labrador, to the Little Schuylkill River Pennsylvania -Also occurs in Eurasia from Nothern Spain and Scandanavia east through nothern Russia to Japan -Designated "of special concern" in the U.S.A. -Endangered or extirpated in most of Europe
Ecology	-Occurs in small and medium-sized running streams -Often found on sandy shoals and in pools under overhanging branches

Source: Clark Arthur H. 1981. The Freshwater Molluscs of Canada. National Museum of Natural Sciences/ National Museums of Canada

*Periostracum: the outer parchment-like layer of a mollusc shell
**Nacre: the pearly inner layer characteristic of some mollusc shells

Eastern Perlshell in the Petitcodiac River Watershed

• "Common and/or abundant" in areas of appropriate habitat