Action Plan: Freshwater Pearl Mussel

Latin name - Margaritifera margaritifera

The freshwater pearl mussel is a bivalve mollusc that lives in fast flowing, nutrient poor rivers with clean sandy and stony bottoms. They are filter feeders, extracting fine organic particles from the water. Their shell is oval and elongated and is dark brown or blackish in colour. They can grow up to 15cm long and have a natural life span of up to 80 to 100 years, making them one of the longest lived known invertebrates. As the name suggests they can produce pearls and have been exploited for these since Roman times.

There are 6 ten kilometre grid squares in Northumberland within which the Freshwater Pearl Mussel has been recorded.

Download the grid square locations to view on Google Earth (you must have a copy of Google Earth Software installed on your computer to view this file).