Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some are found in freshwater. In addition, a few species of land crabs are eaten, for example Cardisoma guanhumi in the Caribbean. Shellfish are among the most common food allergens.
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.
Zooxanthellae is a colloquial term for single-celled dinoflagellates that are able to live in symbiosis with diverse marine invertebrates including demosponges, corals, jellyfish, and nudibranchs. Most known zooxanthellae are in the genus Symbiodinium, but some are known from the genus Amphidinium, and other taxa, as yet unidentified, may have similar endosymbiont affinities. The true Zooxanthella K.brandt is a mutualist of the radiolarian Collozoum inerme and systematically placed in Peridiniales. Another group of unicellular eukaryotes that partake in similar endosymbiotic relationships in both marine and freshwater habitats are green algae zoochlorellae.
Spencer Spit State Park is a public recreation area ran under the Washington State Parks. It covers one hundred and thirty-eight acres (56 ha) on the eastern shore of Lopez Island in San Juan County, Washington. It overlooks the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The state park features two sand spits that enclose a salt chuck lagoon that provides a migratory stop for waterfowl, including Bonaparte's gulls. Other local fauna include great blue herons and kingfishers.
The Pacific razor clam, Siliqua patula, is a species of large marine bivalve mollusc in the family Pharidae.
Soft-shell clams or sand gaper, scientific name Mya arenaria, popularly called "steamers", "softshells", "piss clams", "Ipswich clams", or "Essex clams", are a species of edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Myidae.
Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is one of the four recognized syndromes of shellfish poisoning, which share some common features and are primarily associated with bivalve mollusks. These shellfish are filter feeders and accumulate neurotoxins, chiefly saxitoxin, produced by microscopic algae, such as dinoflagellates, diatoms, and cyanobacteria. Dinoflagellates of the genus Alexandrium are the most numerous and widespread saxitoxin producers and are responsible for PSP blooms in subarctic, temperate, and tropical locations. The majority of toxic blooms have been caused by the morphospecies Alexandrium catenella, Alexandrium tamarense, Gonyaulax catenella and Alexandrium fundyense, which together comprise the A. tamarense species complex. In Asia, PSP is mostly associated with the occurrence of the species Pyrodinium bahamense.
The hard clam, also known as the round clam, hard-shellclam, or the quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk that is native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America from Prince Edward Island to the Yucatán Peninsula. It is one of many unrelated edible bivalves that in the United States are frequently referred to simply as clams. Older literature sources may use the systematic name Venus mercenaria; this species is in the family Veneridae, the venus clams.
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.
Venus is a genus of small to large saltwater clams in the family Veneridae, which is sometimes known as the Venus clams and their relatives. These are marine bivalve molluscs.
Tresus capax is a species of saltwater clam, marine bivalve mollusk, common name the fat gaper, in the family Mactridae. It also shares the common name horse clam with Tresus nuttallii a species which is similar in morphology and lifestyle. Both species are somewhat similar to the geoduck, though smaller, with shells up to eight inches long (20 cm), weight to 3–4 lb (1.4–1.8 kg).
Pinnixa faba, known as the pea crab, mantle pea crab or large pea crab, is a pea crab which lives harmlessly within a large edible clam. This species is a symbiont of Tresus capax and Tresus nuttallii in its mature stage.
Leukoma staminea, commonly known as the Pacific littleneck clam, the littleneck clam, the rock cockle, the hardshell clam, the Tomales Bay cockle, the rock clam or the ribbed carpet shell, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Veneridae. This species of mollusc was exploited by early humans in North America; for example, the Chumash peoples of Central California harvested these clams in Morro Bay approximately 1,000 years ago, and the distinctive shells form middens near their settlements.
Saxidomus nuttalli is a species of large edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Veneridae, the venus clams. Common names include California butterclam and Washington clam.
Dosewallips State Park is a public recreation area located where the Dosewallips River empties into Hood Canal in Jefferson County, Washington. The state park's 1,064 acres (431 ha) include both freshwater and saltwater shorelines. The park offers opportunities for picnicking, camping, hiking, boating, fishing, swimming, scuba diving, and shellfish harvesting.
Tresus is a genus of saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Mactridae. Many of them are known under the common name the horse clam or as species of gaper clam. They are similar to geoducks.
Saxidomus gigantea is a large, edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Veneridae, the venus clams. It can be found along the western coast of North America, ranging from the Aleutian Islands to San Francisco Bay. Common names for this clam include butter clam, Washington clam, smooth Washington clam and money shell.
Solemya is a genus of saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Solemyidae, the awning clams. Solemya is the type genus of the family Solemyidae.
The Burdwood Group Conservancy is a conservancy located in the Broughton Archipelago in Mount Waddington Regional District, British Columbia. It was established by BC Parks on 13 March 2009 to protect a unique cluster of forested islands and islets situated at the entrance to Tribune Channel.
