Description of the mantle lure and novel mimicry of the endangered Cumberlandian Combshell (Epioblasma brevidens) in the Clinch River, eastern United States

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dc.contributor.authorJones, Jess W.en
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, Zacharyen
dc.contributor.authorLane, Timothyen
dc.coverage.countryUnited Statesen
dc.coverage.stateVirginiaen
dc.coverage.stateTennesseeen
dc.date.accessioned2023-06-07T12:51:52Zen
dc.date.available2023-06-07T12:51:52Zen
dc.date.issued2023-03en
dc.description.abstractThe Cumberlandian Combshell (Epioblasma brevidens) is an endangered freshwater mussel endemic to the Tennessee and Cumberland River drainages, major tributaries of the Ohio River of the eastern United States. We conducted mask and snorkel surveys in May and June of 2021 and 2022 to locate, observe, photograph, and video female E. brevidens to document their unique mantle lures at sites in the Clinch River in Tennessee and Virginia. The mantle lure is morphologically specialized mantle tissue that mimics prey items of the host fish. The mantle lure of E. brevidens appears to mimic four distinct characteristics of the reproductive anatomy of the underside (ventral) of a gravid female crayfish, to include: (1) the external apertures of the oviducts located on the base of the third pair of walking legs, (2) crayfish larvae still encased in the egg membrane, (3) pleopods or claws, and (4) postembryonic eggs. Surprisingly, we observed males of E. brevidens displaying mantle lures that were anatomically complex and closely resembled the female mantle lure. The male lure similarly mimics oviducts, eggs, and pleopods but is diminutive (2-3 mm smaller in length or diameter) to those same structures in females. We describe for the first time the mantle lure morphology and mimicry of E. brevidens, showing its close resemblance to the reproductive anatomy of a gravid female crayfish, and a novel form of mimicry in males. To our knowledge, mantle lure displays in males have not been previously documented in freshwater mussels.en
dc.description.adminPublic domain – authored by a U.S. government employeeen
dc.description.notesWe thank Justin Perkinson at Virginia Tech for editing the Video 3, and Sarah Colletti, and Tiffany Leach from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (VDWR) who helped us locate mussels at Wallen Bend in 2021. We also thank S. Colletti, Brittany Bajo-Walker (VDWR), and John Hartley of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation for sharing videos and photographs of the fish captures on the Powell River. This work was supported by Virginia Tech and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.en
dc.description.sponsorshipVirginia Tech; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceen
dc.description.versionPublished versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9906en
dc.identifier.issn2045-7758en
dc.identifier.issue3en
dc.identifier.pmid36969930en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/115366en
dc.identifier.volume13en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherWileyen
dc.rightsPublic Domain (U.S.)en
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/en
dc.subjectcrayfish mimicryen
dc.subjectCumberlandian Combshellen
dc.subjectEpioblasma brevidensen
dc.subjecthost fish captureen
dc.subjectmale mantle lureen
dc.subjectmantle lure descriptionen
dc.titleDescription of the mantle lure and novel mimicry of the endangered Cumberlandian Combshell (Epioblasma brevidens) in the Clinch River, eastern United Statesen
dc.title.serialEcology and Evolutionen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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