Biodiversity & Conservation

Wrinkled rock borer - Hiatella arctica

Hiatella arctica

Image Keith Hiscock - Hiatella arctica. Image width ca XX cm
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Distribution map

Hiatella arctica recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

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Hiatella arctica 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 Linnaeus, 1767
Recent synonyms Hiatella rugosa, Hiatella gallicana
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Common all around Britain and Ireland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information This species attaches by thread-like hairs in holes, crevices or algal holdfasts. It often bores into soft rock and shells. Found on the lower shore and down to about 50 m in depth.
Text page icon Description The shell is thick and can grow up to 3 or 4 cm in length. The shell is overall oblong in shape but highly irregular with no two specimens being alike. Dull white in colour with a yellow-brown periostracum that has a coarse texture. Two distinct ridges extend posteriorly from the beak on each valve. In juveniles, the ridges posses short spines that are often worn away in older specimens. The shell is sculptured with thick concentric ridges. The inside of the shell is white.
Identifying features
  • Rarely more than 4 cm in length.
  • White in colour with a yellow brown periostracum.
  • Rough in texture.
  • Thick, irregular ridges.
  • One short cardinal tooth in the right valve and two on the left and often worn away in older shells.
  • The posterior adductor muscle scar is slightly larger than the anterior scar but both are rounded.
  • The hinge line is undulating.
  • The pallial line is not continuous but made up of separate muscle scars.
Additional information icon Additional information This species is a suspension feeder, catching particles of food as it passes. The type of substratum selected by juveniles determines whether they become burrowers or nestlers. Those settling on hard rock will attach by thread-like hairs and become nestlers while juveniles settling on soft rock become burrowers. The adults are able to bore into rock by mechanical abrasion using the valves of the shell. The initial penetration of the rock by juveniles may involve chemical as well as mechanical means.

This review can be cited as follows:

Michelle Carter 2003. Hiatella arctica. Wrinkled rock borer. 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/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=3488>