Biodiversity & Conservation

A bivalve mollusc - Astarte sulcata

Astarte sulcata

Image Dr Sebastian Holmes - Astarte sulcata. Image width ca 2.7 cm.
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Distribution map

Astarte sulcata recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

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Astarte sulcata is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Mollusca Snails, slugs, mussels, cockles, clams & squid
Class Bivalvia Clams, cockles, mussels, oysters, and scallops
Authority (da Costa, 1778)
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Recorded at sites in Shetland and Orkney, the Northumberland coast south to Druridge Bay; the Llyn Peninsula and the Irish Sea, south Isle of Man and the west coast of Scotland. Also recorded from Torr Head to Carlingford Lough in Ireland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found sublittorally in muddy sands to gravels from 5 m to considerable depths.
Text page icon Description Astarte sulcata has a thick, broadly oval, equivalve shell up to 3 cm long. It is white or pink with a thick, mid to dark brown periostracum, and is often encrusted and stained black around its prominent umbones. The shell has about 20 bold concentric ridges. There is a distinct and deep heart-shaped depression dorsally anterior to the beak (lunule) and a deep elongate depression dorsally posterior to the beak (escutcheon), both are split longitudinally by the hinge line. The adductor scars and pallial line are clear. The inner shell margin is crenulate.
Identifying features
  • Shell broadly oval.
  • White or pink shell with thick, brown periostracum.
  • Up to 3 cm long.
  • Distinct and deep heart-shaped depression dorsally anterior to the beak (lunule).
  • Distinct and deep elongate depression dorsally posterior to the beak (escutcheon).
  • Left valve has 2 prominent cardinal teeth below the umbone.
  • Right valve bears a thick anterior cardinal tooth and a posteriorly slender tooth.
  • Approximately 20 bold, concentric ridges on valves.
  • Inner margin of shell crenulate.
Additional information icon Additional information No text entered

This review can be cited as follows:

Susie Ballerstedt 2008. Astarte sulcata. A bivalve mollusc. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 23/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=2653>