(Linné, 1767)

Description (shell):
Shell thick, elongate, rectangular or rather irregular; umbones close to anterior end, anterior margin rounded, posterior truncate. Sculpture of coarse, concentric ridges, less evident about the umbones, where the shell is usually abraded. Two distinct ridges extend posteriorly from umbo on each valve: in juveniles these bear a few short, coarse tubercles, worn away in older specimens. Right valve with a single cardinal tooth, left valve with two, visible in juveniles only, in older shells these are worn completely away, the hinge line below the umbo and ligament being undulating and thickened. Adductor scars large and distinct, pallial line discontinuous, comprising a series of separate scars (H. arctica-drawing).

Size:
Up to 40 mm long.

Colour:
Dull white; periostracum coarse, yellow-brown. Inner surfaces white.

Animal:
The animal is whitish, tinged with yellow. The siphons are capable of great extension and are covered almost throughout their length by a brown sheath.

Habitat:
Attaches by a byssus, in holes, crevices, or algal holdfasts; also bores into soft calcareous rocks and shells. On the lower shore and well out on to the continental shelf (H. arctica-borings).

Distribution:
Distributed from arctic waters south to, at least, the Mediterranean and north-west Africa (Distr. H. arctica).

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Bivalvia
Subclass Heterodonta
Order Myoida
Family Hiatellidae
Genus Hiatella
Species Hiatella arctica

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Hiatella arctica (Linnaeus, 1767)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Mya arctica Linné, 1767
Solen minutus Linné, 1767
Chama aculeata Stroem, 1768
Mya byssifera Fabricius O., 1780
Hypogaea barbata Poli, 1795
Hypogaea rhomboides Poli, 1795
Hiatella biaperta Bosc, 1802 ; Bosc, 1802 ex Daudin ms.
Hiatella monoperta Bosc, 1802 ; Bosc, 1802 ex Daudin ms.
Saxicava striata Fleuriau, 1802
Mytilus praecisus Montagu, 1803
Diodonta bicarinata Schumacher, 1817
Hiatella oblonga Turton, 1822
Biapholius spinosus Leach, 1822
Rhomboides rugosus var. aculeata Scacchi, 1836
Saxicava rubra Deshayes, 1848
Saxicava ungana Grewinck, 1850
Byssomia crispa Danilo & Sandri, 1856
Sphenia bilirata Gabb, 1861
Saxicava flaccida Gould, 1861
Saxicava arctica var. abbreviata B.D.D., 1896
Saxicava arctica var. dilatata B.D.D., 1896
Saxicava arctica var. inermis B.D.D., 1896
Saxicava orientalis Yokoyama, 1920
Petricola awana Yokoyama, 1924
Saxicava sakhalinensis Takeda, 1953
Saxicava guerinii sensu auct. non Payraudeau, 1826
Hiatella rugosa
Hiatella gallicana
Saxicava rugosa Step, 1927

Hayward, P.J., Wigham, G.D. & N. Yonow, 1990. Mollusca I: Polyplacophora, Scaphopoda, and Gastropoda. In: The Marine Fauna of the British Isles and North-West Europe. (ed. P.J. Hayward & J.S. Ryland). Clarendon Press, Oxford: 628-730.

McMillan, N., 1968: British Shells. Wayside and Woodlands Series. Frederick Warne & CO. LTD, London/New York.

Poppe, G.T. & Y. Goto, 1993. European Seashells. Vol. II. 221 pp. Wiesbaden/Verlag Christa Hemmen.

Seaward, D.R., 1990. Distribution of the marine molluscs of north west Europe. Nature Conservancy Council.

Step, E., 1927. Shell life. 421 pp. Frederick Warne & Co., LTD, London.

Tebble, N., 1966. British Bivalve Seashells. 212 pp. Trustees of The British Museum (Natural history). London.

You can continue searching for Hiatella arctica on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

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