(Scacchi, 1834)

Description (shell):
Shell solid, tumid and inequivalve; left valve slightly more convex than the right. Inequilateral, beaks in front of the midline. Irregularly rhomboidal in outline, set somewhat obliquely with the curve of the anterior border sharper than the posterior. Ligament in numerous grooves across the cardinal area, grouped like an elongate diamond. Sculpture of fine concentric and radiating ridges giving a reticulate effect to the surface. Growth stages are not clear. Hinge plate with a large number of very small similar teeth in a straight line with 3-4 larger teeth set obliquely to this row in two groups at each end of it; these larger teeth have serrated surfaces. The small teeth appear very like a crenulated margin and are often worn away (B. pectunculoides).

Size:
Up to 4.8 mm in length.

Colour:
Dirty white. Periostracum straw coloured. Inside of shell is white.

Distribution:
A rare bivalve in the North Sea (Distr. B. pectunculoides). It is widely distributed over the North Atlantic, from west Greenland, south of Iceland and the Faroes to the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coast of Morocco, the Azores and to the W. Indies. Several varieties of the species have been described and it is difficult to establish which of them are valid.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Bivalvia
Subclass Pteromorphia
Order Arcoida
Family Arcidae
Genus Bathyarca
Species Bathyarca pectunculoides

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Bathyarca pectunculoides (Scacchi, 1834)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Arca pectunculoides Scacchi, 1834
Arca koreni Danielssen, 1859
Arca pectunculoides var. septentrionalis Sars G.O., 1878
Arca pectunculoides var. grandis Leche, 1878
Arca crenulata Verrill, 1882
Arca pectunculiformis Locard, 1886

Sars, G.O., 1878. Bidrag til Kundskaben om Norges Arktiske Fauna. I. Mollusca Regionis Arcticae Norvegiae. Oversigt over de i Norges Arktiske Region forekommende Bløddyr. Christiania Universitets program. 466 pp.

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

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

You can continue searching for Bathyarca pectunculoides on one of these Web sites:

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

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