Morphological and molecular analysis of the freshwater bivalve Anodonta anatina in Iran and Finland

Duck mussel, Anodonta anatina is a habitat generalist inhabiting both lentic and lotic aquatic ecosystems. Due to high morphological similarity and phenotypic plasticity, A. anatina has sometimes been misidentified as A. cygnea. Here, morphological and molecular studies were conducted on Anodonta mussels inhabiting North Iran and Finland. The individuals were collected from Anzali Wetland, Tajan River (North Iran) and Jyväsjärvi Lake (Finland). The COI sequence analysis showed the existence of A. anatina in the sampling areas. The Iranian and Finland specimens showed three and two haplotypes, respectively. The Iranian haplotypes were placed in a single clade, while the Finland haplotypes we…