Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve mollusc. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the sea floor or riverbeds. Clams have two shells of equal size connected by two adductor muscles and have a powerful burrowing foot. They live in both freshwater and marine environments; in salt water they prefer to burrow down into the mud and the turbidity of the water required varies with species and location; the greatest diversity of these is in North America.
Perkinsus is a genus of alveolates in the phylum Perkinsozoa. The genus was erected in 1978 to better treat its type species, Perkinsus marinus, known formerly as Dermocystidium marinum. These are parasitic protozoans that infect molluscs, at least some of which cause disease and mass mortality. P. marinus is the most notorious, causing the disease perkinsosis, or dermo, in wild and farmed oysters.
Carcinus maenas is a common littoral crab. It is known by different names around the world. In the British Isles, it is generally referred to as the shore crab, or green shore crab. In North America and South Africa, it bears the name European green crab.
Carcinus is a genus of crabs, which includes Carcinus maenas, an important invasive species, and C. aestuarii, a species endemic to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Veneridae or venerids, common name: Venus clams, are a very large family of minute to large, saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs. Over 500 living species of venerid bivalves are known, most of which are edible, and many of which are exploited as food sources.
The common cockle is a species of edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Cardiidae, the cockles. It is found in waters off Europe, from Iceland in the north, south into waters off western Africa as far south as Senegal. The ribbed oval shells can reach 6 centimetres (2.4 in) across and are white, yellowish or brown in colour. The common cockle is harvested commercially and eaten in much of its range.
The pod razor is a coastal bivalve of European waters. It is edible and has been fished commercially, especially in Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Scotland.
The dog cockle or European bittersweet is a species of marine clam, a coastal bivalve mollusc of European waters.
A bivalve shell is the enveloping exoskeleton or shell of a bivalve mollusc, composed of two hinged halves or valves. The two half-shells, called the "right valve" and "left valve", are joined by a ligament and usually articulate with one another using structures known as "teeth" which are situated along the hinge line. In many bivalve shells, the two valves are symmetrical along the hinge line — when truly symmetrical, such an animal is said to be equivalved; if the valves vary from each other in size or shape, inequivalved. If symmetrical front-to-back, the valves are said to be equilateral, and are otherwise considered inequilateral.
Lajonkairia lajonkairii is an edible species of saltwater clam in the family Veneridae, the Venus clams.
Mya truncata, common name the blunt gaper or truncate softshell, is a species of edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Myidae.
Chamelea gallina is a species of small saltwater clam, a marine bivalve in the family Veneridae, the venus clams.
The truncate donax, abrupt wedge shell, wedge clam or coquina clam, is a bivalve species in the family Donacidae.
Ensis ensis, or the sword razor, is a razor clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Pharidae. It lives buried in the sand and is found off the coasts of northwest Europe.
Lutraria lutraria is a species of large marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mactridae. Its common names include the otter shell and the common otter shell. It occurs in coastal regions of the north east Atlantic Ocean where it lives buried in the sand.
Venerupis is a genus of marine bivalve molluscs in the family Veneridae commonly known as carpet shells. The valves are robust and rhomboidal with the umbones turned-in and nearer the anterior end. The posterior end is wedge-shaped and the internal margins of the valves are smooth. There are 3 or 4 cardinal teeth on each valve. The foot is large and the siphons are of medium length and united except at the very tip.
Venerupis decussata is a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Veneridae, commonly known as the cross-cut carpet shell.
Thracia convexa is a bivalve mollusc in the family Thraciidae.
Venerupis corrugata, the pullet carpet shell, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Veneridae. It is found buried in the sediment on the sea bed in shallow parts of the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It is harvested for human consumption in Spain and other parts of Western Europe.
Solecurtus strigilatus, also known as the rosy razor clam, is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Solecurtidae. This mollusc is a suspension feeder and can burrow with great rapidity to escape predators. It is an unusual bivalve in that its shell valves are too small to contain all the soft tissue, and the animal is unable to retreat into its shell.
