Biodiversity & Conservation

General Information

A surf clam - Spisula solida - General information

Image Bob Williams - The surf clam Spisula solida. Image width ca XX cm.
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Spisula solida recorded () and expected () distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

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Spisula solida is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Researched by:	Marisa Sabatini	Refereed by:	This information is not refereed.

Taxonomy

Phylum	Mollusca	Snails, slugs, mussels, cockles, clams & squid
Class	Bivalvia	Clams, cockles, mussels, oysters, and scallops

Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland	Recorded at scattered locations around the coasts of Britain and Ireland.
Habitat information	Spisula solida is a burrowing bivalve occasionally found at low water but more usually in the sublittoral. It prefers sandy beds with continually moving water and avoids mud and stagnant water.
Description	Spisula solida can reach lengths up of 5 cm. It has a triangular outline with rounded corners. Fine concentric lines and grooves are grouped close together on either side of the beaks. The outer shell surface is brownish or yellowish-white. The shell is white on the inside. The three cardinal teeth of the left valve are fused and short, extending only half way to the inner hinge plate rim, whereas the right valve has two short cardinal teeth. The left valve has single, elongate, anterior and posterior lateral teeth and the right valve has paired anterior and posterior lateral teeth.

This review can be cited as follows:

Marisa Sabatini 2007. Spisula solida. A surf clam. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 19/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=4363>

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Spisula solida

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A surf clam

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Spisula solida

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