Biodiversity & Conservation

Oval venus - Timoclea ovata

Timoclea ovata

Image Peter Barfield - The oval venus, Timoclea ovata. Image width ca 3 cm.
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Distribution map

Timoclea ovata 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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Timoclea ovata 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 (Pennant, 1777)
Recent synonyms Venus ovata, Chione ovata
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Common around all British coasts but with very few records from Ireland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found in sand, muddy-sand and gravel offshore, at depths ranging from 3 m to 180 m.
Text page icon Description Timoclea ovata has a fairly thin, sub-triangular shaped shell up to 2 cm long. The outer surface of the shell is sculptured with up to 50 radiating ridges crossed with numerous concentric grooves, giving it a rough appearance. The outer colour is variable, usually white, pale brown or light yellow, but typically with streaks or blotches of pink, brown or purple. The inner surface is white-orange with a purple tinge, and the inner margin of the shell is finely ridged (crenulate).
Identifying features
  • Shell thin, equivalve and oval to triangular in shape.
  • Shell almost equilateral, beaks in front of the midline with a faint lunule.
  • Sculpturing of around 50 radiating ridges and many concentric grooves, with clear growth stages.
  • Colour variable, but typically with streaks and blotches of pink, brown or purple.
  • Inner shell margin crenulate for most of its length.
  • Pallial sinus small and triangular.
  • Three cardinal teeth in each valve.
Additional information icon Additional information Timoclea ovata superficially resembles a genus of cockle, Parvicardium, but the hinge teeth show it to be a venus shell.

This review can be cited as follows:

Caroline Farrell 2006. Timoclea ovata. Oval venus. 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/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=4478>