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Common Name: pygmy peaclam
Synonyms and Other Names: moitessier’s pea/pill clam, pisidiid clam, P. (Neopisidium) moitessierianum
Taxonomy: available through 
Identification: This triangle- to trapezoid-shaped pea clam displays a relatively rounded, thick, and coarsely striated shell with a height to length ratio of 0.88–0.90. The somewhat flattened beaks barely protrude above the dorsal margin, which exhibits a fold or ridge that is parallel to the growth rings. The 3rd cardinal tooth inside the right valve is curved and thick at both ends, with a bifurcated posterior part. The 2nd cardinal in the left valve is triangular and the 4th cardinal is a thin plate-like structure that is somewhat curved. In live individuals, there is only one siphon (Grigorovich et al. 2000).
Size: around 1.8–2.8 mm long (Holopainen 1979; Grigorovich et al. 2000).
Native Range: P. moitessierianum is native to eastern and western European countries as well as Asia in southwestern Siberia and northeastern Kazakhstan (Grigorovich et al. 2000).
Nonindigenous Occurrences: P. moitessierianum was observed for the first time in the Great Lakes basin in the Tuscarawas River, which is connected to the Ohio and Erie Canal, in the 1890s. It was originally identified as P. punctatum. It has also been recorded from Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River delta, western Lake Erie, and Lake Superior, in 1997–2001 (Grigorovich et al. 2000; Korniushin et al. 2001; Grigorovich et al. 2003a).
Ecology:
Moitessier’s pea clam occurs in mud, silty sand, sand, silty gravel, and amongst macrophytes. It occurs from 0.5–20 m depth in the littoral zone of lakes and in wide slow rivers. It usually favors oligotrophic water with oxygen content over 50% saturation but it can tolerate some anoxic conditions over winter. P. moitessierianum is relatively thermophilic, preferring lower river reaches, and has recently been able to colonize Lake Annecy, France, possibly due to increasingly warm lake water. It can, however, tolerate an annual water temperature range of 1–20ºC. Maximum population densities in the Great Lakes reach 145–178 individuals per m2 (Bishop and Hewitt 1976; Holopainen and Hanski 1986; Smit et al. 1994; Mouthon 1999; Grigorovich et al. 2000; Zittler and Kuiper 2002; Grigorovich et al. 2003a; Mouthon and Magny 2004).
P. moitessierianum is ovoviviparous, hermaphroditic, can undergo self-fertilization, and generally carries 1–10 embryos. In Lake Paajarvi, Finland, it becomes sexually mature around 1 year, lays eggs in August to September, broods its offspring, releases them in July around 2 years of age, and then dies (Holopainen 1979; Grigorovich et al. 2000).
Species in the genus Pisidium are interstitial feeders, creating burrows into which they draw water by using their cilia and foot. They feed on suspended material in the water column and also directly ingest deposits from the substrate in which they live (Lopez and Holopainen 1987).
Means of Introduction: P. moitessierianum was very likely introduced in ships to the Great Lakes sometime in the 1890s, most likely in solid ballast, which was in use at the time (Grigorovich et al. 2000; Grigorovich et al. 2003a; Grigorovich et al. 2003b).
Status: Established where recorded.
Impact of Introduction: Unknown
Remarks: P. moitessierianum is considered rare in some parts of its native range (Dyduch and Falniowski 1979; Beran and Horsak 1998; Horsak 2001).
P. moitessierianum is really P. (Neopisidium) moitessierianum, part of the polyphyletic subgenus Neopisidium (Kurniushin and Glaubrecht 2002).
References
Beran, L. and M. Horsak. 1998. Aquatic molluscs (Gastropoda, Bivalvia) of the Dolonomoravsky uval lowland, Czech Republic. Acta Societatis Zoologicae Bohemicae 62(1):7-23.
Bishop, M. J. and S. J. Hewitt. 1976. Assemblages of Pisidium spp. (Bivalvia: Sphaeriidae) from localities in eastern England. Freshwater Biology 6(2):177-182.
Dyduch, A. and A. Falniowski. 1979. Mollusks of Gardno Lake, Poland and the necessity of their protection. Ochrona Pryzyrody 42:150-182.
Grigorovich, I. A., A. V. Korniushin, and H. J. MacIsaac. 2000. Moitessier’s pea clam Pisidium moitessierianum (Bivalvia, Sphaeriidae): a cryptogenic mollusk in the Great Lakes. Hydrobiologia 435:153-165.
Grigorovich, I. A., A. V. Korniushin, D. K. Gray, I. C. Duggan, R. I. Colautti, and H. J. MacIsaac. 2003a. Lake Superior: an invasion coldspot? Hydrobiologia 499(1-3):191-210.
Grigorovich, I. A., R. I. Colautti, E. L. Mills, K. Holeck, A. G. Ballert, and H. J. MacIsaac. 2003b. Ballast-mediated animal introductions in the Laurentian Great Lakes: retrospective and prospective analysis. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 60:740-756.
Holopainen, I. J. 1979. Population dynamics and production of Pisidium spp. (Bivalvia, Sphaeriidae) in the oligotrophic and meso humic Lake Paajarvi, southern Finland. Archiv fuer Hydrobiologie Supplement 54(4):466-508.
Holopainen, I. J. and I. Hanski. 1986. Life history variation in Pisidium (Bivalvia: Pisidiidae). Holarctic Ecology 9:85-98.
Horsak, M. 2001. Contribution to our knowledge of macroinvertebrate fauna of the Dyje River downstream of the Nove Mlyny Reservoirs (Czech Republic). Scripta Biology (Brno) 27:41-62.
Korniushin, A. V. and M. Glaubrecht. 2002. Phylogenetic analysis based on the morphology of viviparous freshwater clams of the family Sphaeriidae (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Veneroida). Zoologica Scripta 31(5):415-459.
Korniushin, A. V., I. A.Grigorovich and G. L. Mackie. 2001. Taxonomic revision of Pisidium punctatum Sterki, 1895 (Bivalvia: Sphaeriidae). Malacologia 43(1-2):337-347.
Lopez G. R., I. J. Holopainen. 1987. Interstitial suspension-feeding by Pisidium spp. (Pisidiidae: Bivalvia): A new guild in the lentic benthos? American Malacological Bulletin. 5:21–30.
Mouthon, J. 1999. Longitudinal organisation of the mollusc species in a theoretical French river. Hydrobiologia 390:117-128.
Mouthon, J. and M. Magny. 2004. Malacological history of Lake Annecy (France): a comparison of Late Holocene (since 4700 BC) and present mollusk assemblages. Archiv fuer Hydrobiologie 160(4):555-573.
Smit, H., J. A. Van Der Velden, and A. Klinik. 1994. Macrozoobenthic assemblages in littoral sediments in the enclosed Rhine-Meuse Delta. Netherlands Journal of Aquatic Ecology 28(2):199-212.
Zettler, M. L. and J. G. J. Kuiper. 2002. On the distribution and ecology of Pisidium moitessierianum (Paladilhe 1866) with special focus on northeastern Germany (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Sphaeridae). Mitteilungen der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft 67:9-26.
Other Resources: Great Lakes Water Life
Author: Rebekah M. Kipp
Contributing Agencies: 
NOAA - GLERL
Revision Date: 3/16/2007 Citation for this information:
Rebekah M. Kipp. 2009. Pisidium moitessierianum. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL.
<http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=2375> Revision Date: 3/16/2007
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