North GroundHuntNorth Ground Hunt — return to North Ground
Species authority page

Smooth softshell turtle

Apalone mutica · Turtles · Reptiles

Smooth softshell turtle (Apalone mutica): Medium-large softshell; female carapace 16.5-35.6 cm, males 11.5-26.6 cm; leathery, skin-covered oval carapace without spines on the front edge. Olive to orange carapace with dark spots, streaks or blotches (females blotchier); plastron plain white or grey. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and dateOpen the smooth softshell turtle map

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Apalone mutica
Family
Trionychidae
In North America
Native
Range
Native across the central and south-central US (NatureServe lists Pennsylvania, the Midwest and Great Plains south to Texas, New Mexico and Florida); introduced in France (ADW). Not recorded for Canada in NatureServe.
Biology

How to identify it

Medium-large softshell; female carapace 16.5-35.6 cm, males 11.5-26.6 cm; leathery, skin-covered oval carapace without spines on the front edge. [1][2]

Olive to orange carapace with dark spots, streaks or blotches (females blotchier); plastron plain white or grey. [1][2]

Cream or orange line bordered in black runs from behind each eye to the neck; tubular snout with round nostrils and no septal ridge. [1][2]

Males have thicker tails than females. [1][2]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Large rivers and streams, sometimes lakes, impoundments and shallow bogs, usually with sand or mud bottoms and little vegetation; nests on open sandbars and banks near water. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Most aquatic of the North American softshells; buries in bottom sediment so only the snout reaches the surface, and overwinters buried underwater. [1][2]

Emerges from hibernation in March or early April in Kansas; basks on sandbars and mudflats. [1][2]

Carnivorous generalist eating insects, crayfish, snails, fish and amphibians. [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Where it is listed for legal take

These authorities list this species for legal take in their own regulations.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Native across the central and south-central US (NatureServe lists Pennsylvania, the Midwest and Great Plains south to Texas, New Mexico and Florida); introduced in France (ADW). Not recorded for Canada in NatureServe.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology