Simple guideline on photography of "big" River Mussels in Europe

It is pleasing that iNaturalists take photos of these overlooked animals in the field. Unfortunately, plenty of photos is taken with repeated errors. Therefore I would like to provide some useful information on how to take pictures correctly:

1) place the shell on a flat surface and take photos from above vertically to the shell plain; see nice examples here: www.researchgate.net/figure/The-eight-unionoid-species-of-the-North-and-Central-European-region-A-Anodonta_fig1_230574388 or here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-59867-7/figures/2

2) take close-up(s) of structures (umbonal rugae) on upper parts of the shell, which are crucial characteristics for Anodonta, Pseudanodonta, and Sinanodonta species; see figure 1 and 2 in my article here (roll down on page 4 of the PDF): https://docplayer.cz/14600192-Dolozene-vyskyty-skeble-rybnicne-anodonta-cygnea-bivalvia-unionida-z-ceske-a-polske-casti-slezska-a-ze-severni-moravy.html

3) if your find is a dead animal, open up both parts of the shell and take photo(s) of the inside, if not put it back to its environment (native "big" River Mussels are declining species in many parts of Europe)

4) post your pics on iNat and wait on ID or confirmation :-)

由使用者

martinmandak 在 2018年07月01日 14:15 所貼文

Thanks Martin,
I wish I had taken better photos,I was working as a contractor on the River Meden at the time,and I felt that I should be working and not following my Hobby, I doubt if I'll get back to the site which had a really healthy population of Mussels,but I might be able to get someone to get me a specimen in the future.
Regards
Stephen

發佈由 stephen54 大約 6 年前

You are welcome, Stephen. Thanks for the info. Your find is pretty clear -- it's A. anatina without doubts.

Ok, I saw this post before I saw your Id,Thanks
I'm going up to the Spey valley in Scotland in Sept. I know there used to be a big population of mussels there that were taken for pearls,if there's any left I'll try and get some better photos.
Regards
Stephen

Thanks for the advice! Iam going to do better shots in future. ;)

發佈由 cherusker 大約 6 年前

Thanks Martin! I'm sorry my pictures are not good at all - I was running out of time and was very quickly (definitely far too quickly) taking some pictures. I hope to go back one day and will try to make appropriate pictures according to your instruction.
Best, Muriel

發佈由 murielbendel 大約 6 年前

No problem, Muriel. Look forward to seeing your other finds!

Hi Martin, thanks for these informations! My picture was taken before I knew of this great website. :)
Next time I know what to do.
Best regards, Marc

發佈由 jantiff 大約 6 年前

Hi Marc, thanks for the comment.

Thanks for the guidelines !
In this case I couldn't reach the shell, but next time I'll take more detailed pictures if possible.

發佈由 nicz 超過 5 年前

You are welcome.

發佈由 martinmandak 超過 5 年前

Thanks for the explanations ! Next time, I'll take better pictures :-)

發佈由 vaudoiseaux 超過 5 年前

OK. Curious what you will find next time. :-)

thanks for the advice!

發佈由 mammal 超過 5 年前

thanks for all these informations!

I found the empty mussel shells in a dried out pond (without water from at least August til end of the year I think). At home after searching through the web and finding that they are Anodonta I was fascinated happy and sad at the same time, learning that they need good water conditions to dwell, and are therefore endangered. Happy that they dwelled in this little, unremarkable, very likely artifical pond, sad that they made it after perhaps decades and generations of good living there not through the summer of 2018.

Would you say there is a chance that the species will be able to resettle in the pond some day?

Alas, I had taken the shells home, so I will upload photos that show hopefully more of the important details, as soon as I had good enough daylight and time.

發佈由 mobbini 超過 5 年前

You are welcome. Yes, the species can recolonize the habitat again with help of birds. Tag me once you upload more pics to your observation, please.

That is good to hear, so I cross my fingers for many bird visitors to the pond.

I'll be happy to let you know when I uploaded new images.

Hi martinmandak,

I hopefully catched some of the needed details. There are now three observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20317868
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20157805
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20157759

Sorry for my belated response. I discovered your advice just now.

This is really helpful. Thanks a lot! : D
@martinmandak

發佈由 kai_pirinha 超過 5 年前

發佈由 martinmandak 約 5 年前

thanks, Martin.

發佈由 domir 約 5 年前

Thank you for the advice @martinmandak, I'll try to update my shots :-)

發佈由 shulard 約 5 年前

My pleasure, Stéphane.

Thanks for the advice, next time I find one I will follow your instructions.

發佈由 guido_sardella 約 5 年前

Perfect, Guido!

Thanks for all these usefull informations! I will try to remember it next time when i take pictures of mussels and try to identify them myself^^

發佈由 mumpitzz 大約 5 年前

My pleasure, Janka.

發佈由 martinmandak 大約 5 年前

@martinmandak Many thanks for the usefull informations. Next time I will follow your instructions.

發佈由 szuwarek 大約 5 年前

You are welcome, Dariusz.

Photographing (big river) mussels will never be withouth thinking of your advice. Thanks!

發佈由 bobmeewis 大約 5 年前

You are welcome, Bob! :-)

發佈由 martinmandak 超過 4 年前

Thanks for these informations!

發佈由 panasenkonn 超過 4 年前

Thank you very much Martin!
i will surely follow your tips next time

發佈由 luc-arc 超過 4 年前

My pleasure, Luciano.

Vielen Dank !

發佈由 speedy 超過 4 年前

Thanks a lot, I wont make the same mistakes again!

發佈由 reyon 超過 4 年前

OK, you're welcome.

thx

發佈由 mangoblatt 超過 4 年前

In my case, it was dead one. So I just know hot to take pictures of River Mussels. So I ´m glad you posted this text.

發佈由 peternociar 約 4 年前

Thank you! I'll follow this advice from now on. Thanks for the effort!

發佈由 toemmoe 約 4 年前

發佈由 martinmandak 約 4 年前

Thanks. It's just a passing observation.

發佈由 a-lapin 約 4 年前

Thanks Martin that's helpful. I'm using the lockdown time to look at the natural history close to home and been both delighted and astonished at the wealth of life locally. I had no idea there were mussels in our loch, found this shell where the gulls hang out. It's quite small and I've no experience in identification but could post more pics of of assistance?

Kind regards, Colin

發佈由 tiggerpics 約 4 年前

Hi Colin, if you add more pictures, I may specify my ID to the species level.

Thanks a lot!
Best wishes,
Anna

發佈由 annagazda 約 4 年前

No problem. :-)

Thanks for informations, I'll try to take better photos next time

發佈由 victor_85 約 4 年前

Thanks for the information, I will work on it in the future, but since the water was 16,5°C and I had no suite on, I can't promise anything ;)

發佈由 markkir 約 4 年前

Thanks, Martin! Will hopefully do better next time, it was a find in my neighbourhood lake.

發佈由 jensu 約 4 年前

Hi, you're welcome. Look forward to your next finds. :-)

Thank you for the additional information— will be better prepared next time.

發佈由 pzf 大約 4 年前

發佈由 martinmandak 大約 4 年前

Thank you very much! I'll do better pictures next time :)

發佈由 vlasta_loya 超過 3 年前

發佈由 martinmandak 超過 3 年前

Thanks.

發佈由 arturasvai 超過 3 年前

Дякую! Thanks!

發佈由 sytnyktetiana 超過 3 年前

Hi Martin, Thanks alot for the guide. I'm sorry it took me so long to notice your post, but I'll keep it in mind as I live in an area with many strems i good ecological quality.
Best regards, Peter

發佈由 petereriksen 超過 3 年前

Hi Peter, it's OK. I am waiting for your other finds! :-)

@hannes_oehm

發佈由 gerrit_oehm 超過 3 年前

Thank you, a very useful article!

發佈由 tarsen 5 個月前

Thanks!

發佈由 martinmandak 5 個月前

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