| Idas simpsoni | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Preserved specimen of Idas simpsoni | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Bivalvia |
| Order: | Mytilida |
| Family: | Mytilidae |
| Genus: | Idas |
| Species: | I. simpsoni |
| Binomial name | |
| Idas simpsoni | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Idas simpsoni, previously known as Adipicola simpsoni, is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae, the mussels. It is a deepwater species and is only found attached to the bones of dead whales.
In 1900, some fishermen trawling the seabed between the Hebrides and the Shetland Islands brought to the surface part of a whale skull to which was attached about twenty bivalve molluscs. They passed their find to James Jenkins Simpson, a shell collector in Aberdeen, and he sent them on to the conchologist James Thomas Marshall. [2] Marshall determined that the molluscs were new to science, and formally described them, naming the new species Myrina simpsoni. [1] Apart from one specimen which was found inside a baulk of drifting pinewood, all specimens seen since then have been associated with the skeletons of dead whales, making this mollusc the first known species with such a restrictive habitat requirement. [2] The species has since been transferred to the genus Idas , making it Idas simpsoni. [1]
This mollusc can grow to a length of about 2 cm (0.8 in). The shell is equivalved, oblong and rather fragile, the posterior end being broad and rounded while the anterior end is narrower and more acutely pointed. The dorsal margin is flat and the hinge simple; the shell is embossed with fine concentric sculpturing. The exterior of the shell is grey and the interior is pearly. [2]
A whale fall, the sinking of a dead whale carcase to the sea floor, creates a complex localized ecosystem that can supply sustenance to deep-sea organisms for long periods of time. [3] Idas simpsoni is described as living in abundance on weathered whale skulls. [4]
A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer usually created by an animal that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washed up on beaches by beachcombers. The shells are empty because the animal has died and the soft parts have been eaten by another animal or have decomposed.
Bivalvia, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. Bivalves as a group have no head and they lack some usual molluscan organs like the radula and the odontophore. They include the clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, scallops, and numerous other families that live in saltwater, as well as a number of families that live in freshwater. The majority are filter feeders. The gills have evolved into ctenidia, specialised organs for feeding and breathing. Most bivalves bury themselves in sediment where they are relatively safe from predation. Others lie on the sea floor or attach themselves to rocks or other hard surfaces. Some bivalves, such as the scallops and file shells, can swim. The shipworms bore into wood, clay, or stone and live inside these substances.
Conchology is the study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of molluscs; however, malacology is the study of molluscs as whole organisms, whereas conchology is confined to the study of their shells. It includes the study of land and freshwater mollusc shells as well as seashells and extends to the study of a gastropod's operculum.
The spade-toothed whale is a very little-known and the rarest species of beaked whale. It was first named from a partial jaw found on Pitt Island, New Zealand, in 1872; reported and illustrated in 1873 by James Hector, and described the next year by John Edward Gray, who named it in honor of Henry Hammersley Travers, the collector. This was eventually lumped with the strap-toothed whale, starting as early as an 1878 article by Hector, who never considered the specimen to be specifically distinct. A calvaria found in the 1950s at White Island, also New Zealand, initially remained undescribed, but was later believed to be from a ginkgo-toothed beaked whale.
The evolution of the molluscs is the way in which the Mollusca, one of the largest groups of invertebrate animals, evolved. This phylum includes gastropods, bivalves, scaphopods, cephalopods, and several other groups. The fossil record of mollusks is relatively complete, and they are well represented in most fossil-bearing marine strata. Very early organisms which have dubiously been compared to molluscs include Kimberella and Odontogriphus.
A molluscivore is a carnivorous animal that specialises in feeding on molluscs such as gastropods, bivalves, brachiopods and cephalopods. Known molluscivores include numerous predatory molluscs,, arthropods such as crabs and firefly larvae, and, vertebrates such as fish, birds and mammals. Molluscivory is performed in a variety ways with some animals highly adapted to this method of feeding behaviour. A similar behaviour, durophagy, describes the feeding of animals that consume hard-shelled or exoskeleton bearing organisms, such as corals, shelled molluscs, or crabs.
Mytilidae are a family of small to large saltwater mussels, marine bivalve molluscs in the order Mytilida. One of the genera, Limnoperna, inhabits brackish or freshwater environments. The order has only this one family which contains some 52 genera.
A mollusc valve is each articulating part of the shell of a mollusc. Each part is known as a valve or in the case of chitons, a "plate". Members of two classes of molluscs: the Bivalvia (clams) and the Polyplacophora (chitons) have valves.
Marine invertebrates are the invertebrates that live in marine habitats. Invertebrate is a blanket term that includes all animals apart from the vertebrate members of the chordate phylum. Invertebrates lack a vertebral column, and some have evolved a shell or a hard exoskeleton. As on land and in the air, marine invertebrates have a large variety of body plans, and have been categorised into over 30 phyla. They make up most of the macroscopic life in the oceans.
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda. The members are known as molluscs or mollusks. Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estimated between 60,000 and 100,000 additional species. The proportion of undescribed species is very high. Many taxa remain poorly studied.
Adipicola is a genus of saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Mytilidae, the mussels.
Pododesmus patelliformis, the ribbed saddle-oyster, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Anomiidae. It is found in the north east Atlantic Ocean.
Angeline Myra Keen (1905–1986) was an American malacologist and invertebrate paleontologist. She was an expert on the evolution of marine mollusks. With a PhD in psychology. Keen went from being a volunteer, identifying shells at Stanford, and having no formal training in biology or geology, to being one of the world's foremost malacologists. She was called the "First Lady of Malacology".
Entovalva nhatrangensis is a species of small marine bivalve mollusc in the family Lasaeidae. It was first described in 2010 and its specific name "nhatrangensis" derives from the locality where it was originally found, Nha Trang Bay in Vietnam. It lives inside the oesophagus of certain species of sea cucumbers. It is considered to be an endosymbiont rather than a parasite because it does not harm its host.
Eurytellina simulans is a species of bivalve mollusc. This species was previously known as Tellina simulans. The animal was originally described to science by naturalist Charles Baker Adams, a professor of zoology at Amherst College. Adams left for an expedition to Panama in mid-November 1850. He collected furiously upon arrival and on January 3, 1851 shipped eight crates back to Massachusetts. These contained 41,830 specimens of 516 species of molluscs. He described Tellina simulans on the basis of a single valve.
Polydora glycymerica is a species of annelid worm in the family Spionidae, native to the northwestern Pacific Ocean, where it lives commensally in association with a bivalve mollusc, usually Glycymeris yessoensis but occasionally with another species of clam. The worm intercepts food particles being drawn into the mollusc by its feeding current.
Idas is a genus of saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Mytilidae, the mussels.
Adipicola pelagica is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae, the mussels. It is a deepwater species and is found attached to the bones and tissues of whales that have died and sunk to the seabed, and sometimes to fragments of decomposing carcases which have sloughed off and floated to the surface.
Lasaea rubra is a species of small marine bivalve mollusc in the family Lasaeidae. It is found on the eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean. This species was first described in 1803 by the English naturalist George Montagu who gave it the name Cardium rubrum. It was later transferred to the genus Lasaea, making it Lasaea rubra.
Carditamera affinis is a species of marine bivalve mollusc. It was first described to science by George Brettingham Sowerby I in 1833. No English common name has been recorded for this species. The first appearance of this animal in the fossil record is 5.333 million years ago.