Nutritional Freshwater Life
118
Potomida littoralis Cuvier 1798 (= Unio littoralis)
Order: Unionoida
Family: Unionidae
Common name: Freshwater mussel.
Distribution: South Europe (Portugal,
Spain, France, Greece), North Africa
(Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco), Middle East
(Armenia, East Turkey, Syria, Palestine,
Israel) (Schultres, 2012).
Habitat: Rivers, river canals, slowmoving waters, river affluents, canals,
lakes.
Description: Shell of this species is
greenish black and interior with slightly
violet hue. Shell shape is variable but
usually short and high. Embryonic
shell is usually white without periostracum. Teeth are very strong. Animal
is yellowish or greenish gray, and its
mantle is yellow. Gills are dark reddish
brown and foot is yellowish. Shell measures 40–50 × 50–70 × 25–30 (height)
mm (Schultres, 2012).
Nutritional Facts
Proximate Composition (%)
Moisture Protein Lipid Ash
U. terminalis
80.36
11.87
2.55 1.68
P. littoralis
81.69
11.97
1.05 1.61
Fatty Acids (%)
U. terminalis P. littoralis
SFA
32.13
30.21
MUFA
19.60
22.84
PUFA
37.08
32.41
Source: Data from Ersoy and Şereflişan (2010).
Unio tigridis Bourguignat 1853
Order: Unionoida
Family: Unionidae
Common name: Freshwater bivalve.
Distribution: Turkey and Syria, Iraq,
Iran (Lopes-Lima and Seddon, 2014b).
Habitat: Rivers and lakes.