Biodiversity & Conservation

Northern hatchet shell - Thyasira gouldi - General information

Thyasira gouldi

Image National Museum Wales - External view of Thyasira gouldi valve. Image width ca 1.5 cm.
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Distribution map

Thyasira gouldi recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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  • WC_Act_1981

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Angus Jackson Text page icon Refereed by: This information is not refereed.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Mollusca Snails, slugs, mussels, cockles, clams & squid
Class Bivalvia Clams, cockles, mussels, oysters, and scallops
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland At the head of Loch Etive, west coast of Scotland. Formerly also found in Lochs Linnhe, Eil and Sunart. Recorded also from Shetland (further detail lacking). Presence in Scottish waters forms the extreme southern end of the geographic range.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Inhabits a small chamber in the top few centimetres of soft mud or sand-mud sediments at the head of some sea lochs. Habitat generally characterized by the presence of organic matter.
Text page icon Description A small, rather globular, white burrowing bivalve. The two halves of the shell are the same shape and the shell itself is thin and fragile. This species is very similar to Thyasira flexuosa, the wavy hatchet shell.

This review can be cited as follows:

Angus Jackson 2007. Thyasira gouldi. Northern hatchet shell. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 25/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=4476>