Biodiversity & Conservation

Peppery furrow shell - Scrobicularia plana

Scrobicularia plana

Image Ian Reach - A number of Scrobicularia plana being dug out of coarse sediment. Image width ca 15 cm.
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Distribution map

Scrobicularia plana 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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Scrobicularia plana 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 Common to all British and Irish shores and often locally abundant.
Habitat information icon Habitat information The peppery furrow shell is found in estuarine and intertidal conditions and is able to tolerate low salinities in thick mud or muddy sand. It burrows up to 20 cm deep in sediments and can be identified when buried by the characteristic star-shaped markings made at the surface by its inhalant siphon.
Text page icon Description This bivalve has a thin, rounded and flattened shell and grows up to 6.5 cm in length. Internal features for identification are the hinge of the valves (the right valve has two teeth and the left valve one tooth) and the broad and almost circular pallial sinus. Externally, the shell is sculptured with fine concentric lines, the outer surface white, pale grey or yellow and the inner surface is white.
Identifying features
  • Thin, rounded, flattened shell.
  • Up to 6.5 cm long.
  • Outer surface white, pale grey or yellow.
  • Inner surface white.
Additional information icon Additional information Feeds by extending a siphon above the sediment when the tide is in. The siphon is often clipped by fish, crabs and birds, however lost tissue is regenerated within four or five days.

This review can be cited as follows:

Paolo Pizzolla 2002. Scrobicularia plana. Peppery furrow shell. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 22/05/2012]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=4316>