Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. 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 seafloor 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.
Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not all oysters, are in the superfamily Ostreoidea.
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. As a group, bivalves have no head and they lack some usual molluscan organs, like the radula and the odontophore. The class includes 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. Shipworms bore into wood, clay, or stone and live inside these substances.
Scallop is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families within the superfamily Pectinoidea, which also includes the thorny oysters.
Nodipecten is a genus of large scallops, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Pectinidae, the scallops. These scallops often have attractive, strongly colored, thick shells. The generic name Nodipecten means "nodular scallop", because in this genus the shell is usually sculpted with regular, very large nodes.
Pecten maximus, common names the great scallop, king scallop, St James shell or escallop, is a northeast Atlantic species of scallop, an edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Pectinidae. This is the type species of the genus. This species may be conspecific with Pecten jacobaeus, the pilgrim's scallop, which has a much more restricted distribution.
Euvola ziczac, or the zigzag scallop, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Pectinidae. It can be found along the Atlantic coast of North America, ranging from North Carolina to the West Indies and Bermuda.
Nodipecten subnodosus is a species of scallop known by the common name giant lion's paw. It is native to Pacific and Gulf of California coasts of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico, southward to the western coast of Peru.
Macrostrombus costatus, formerly known as Strombus costatus and Lobatus costatus, or commonly known as the milk conch, is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Strombidae, the true conchs. They are an edible species and important food source for the inhabitants of where they are found. Conchs are most notable for their medium to large-sized ornamental shells. Milk conchs are dispersed among the tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean, along the coasts and islands of North, Central, and South America.
Scallop aquaculture is the commercial activity of cultivating (farming) scallops until they reach a marketable size and can be sold as a consumer product. Wild juvenile scallops, or spat, were collected for growing in Japan as early as 1934. The first attempts to fully cultivate scallops in farm environments were not recorded until the 1950s and 1960s. Traditionally, fishing for wild scallops has been the preferred practice, since farming can be expensive. However worldwide declines in wild scallop populations have resulted in the growth of aquaculture. Globally the scallop aquaculture industry is now well established, with a reported annual production totalling over 1,200,000 metric tonnes from about 12 species. China and Japan account for about 90% of the reported production.
Mizuhopecten yessoensis is a species of marine bivalve mollusks in the family Pectinidae, the scallops. Its name Yesso/Ezo refers to its being found north of Japan.
Arca zebra, or the turkey wing ark clam, is a bivalve mollusc in the family Arcidae, the ark clams.
Pinna carnea, commonly called the amber pen shell, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Pinnidae.
Caribachlamys ornata, the ornate scallop, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Pectinidae. It can be found in Caribbean waters, ranging from southern Florida to the West Indies and Brazil.
Caribachlamys sentis, the sentis scallop, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Pectinidae. It can be found in Caribbean waters, ranging from southern Florida to the West Indies and Brazil.
Anodontia philippiana, or the chalky buttercup, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Lucinidae. It can be found burrowing in soft substrate in shallow waters along the Atlantic coast of North America, its range extending from North Carolina in the United States to the West Indies and Bermuda.
Asterias forbesi, commonly known as Forbes sea star, is a species of starfish in the family Asteriidae. It is found in shallow waters in the northwest Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
Pinctada mazatlanica is a species of tropical marine bivalve mollusc in the family Pteriidae, the pearl oysters. It is known by the English common names pearl oyster, Mazatlan pearl oyster, and Panama pearl oyster. Spanish common names include madre perla, and ostra perlifera panameña. This mollusc was first described to science in 1856 by conchologist Sylvannus Charles Thorp Hanley. Pinctada mazatlanica produces gem-quality pearls and was the basis of a pearling industry in the Gulf of California for centuries.
Holothuria (Cystipus) cubana is a species of sea cucumber in the family Holothuriidae. This species was first described by Ludwig in 1875.
Crassostrea rhizophorae, also known as the mangrove cupped oyster, is a species of bivalve in the family Ostreidae. C. rhizophorae is one of the predominant oyster species in the South Atlantic, specifically in Central and South America. It is often found in the vast mangrove ecosystem along the coast of Brazil.
