REVIEW PAPER A review on the ‘‘in vitro’’ culture of freshwater mussels (Unionoida) Paula Lima • Manuel Lopes Lima • Uthaiwan Kovitvadhi • Satit Kovitvadhi • Christopher Owen • Jorge Machado Received: 7 July 2011 / Revised: 13 February 2012 / Accepted: 7 March 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Abstract Many Unionoida are considered to be extinct, endangered, or of special concern. These bivalves have complex life cycle stages that limit successful culture. In nature, the larvae (glochidia) of these bivalves must successfully parasitize a host (mainly fish) in order to metamorphose into juveniles. The two artificial methods used to obtain juvenile freshwater mussels in laboratory are either by induced attachment to host fish or by in vitro culture of glochidia. This article is focused on the in vitro method that represents a novel and alternative process to fish infestation, offering the ability to obtain larger numbers of juveniles without the need for host fishes and reducing the overall costs of propagation. In vitro culture requires a medium which fulfills the nutritional needs of each glochidia species and avoids microbial contamination. Recently, this methodology has pre- sented excellent results with survival and transforma- tion rates up to 94% using host fish plasma. High efficiencies on growth, and survival rates (84%) of juvenile freshwater bivalve Hyriopsis myersiana (Lea, 1856) up to 120 days were obtained when reared in adequate recirculating aquacultural systems using a very specific diet. More research is still needed to demonstrate successful propagation, mainly concern- ing the media nutritional composition to increase glochidia transformation and juvenile quality. Keywords Freshwater Á Bivalve Á Culture Á Anodonta Á Lampsilis Á Hyriopsis Á Villosa Introduction The Unionoida are freshwater bivalves that possess a parasitic larval phase in their life cycle and are found Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10750-012-1078-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Handling editor: B. Oertli P. Lima Á M. L. Lima Á J. Machado (&) Departamento de Produc ¸a ˜o Aqua ´tica, ICBAS - Instituto de Cie ˆncias Biome ´dicas de Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto, Lg. Prof. Abel Salazar, no 2, 4099-003 Porto, Portugal e-mail: jmachado@icbas.up.pt M. L. Lima Á J. Machado CIIMAR - Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigac ¸a ˜o Marı ´tima e Ambiental, Universidade do Porto, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal U. Kovitvadhi Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand S. Kovitvadhi Department of Agriculture, Faculty of Science and Technology, Rajabhat Bansomdejchaopraya University, Bangkok 10600, Thailand C. Owen Division of Aquaculture, Kentucky State University, Frankfort, KY, USA 123 Hydrobiologia DOI 10.1007/s10750-012-1078-0