clams

butter clam

Scientific name: Saxidomus gigantea

Family: Veneridae

Phylum: Mollusca 

Typical size: Up to 3 inches across

Depth range: Up to 131 feet deep 

Description: A oval shaped clam that has a white to grey shell. The shell has concentric ridges running parallel to the edge of the shell. 

Habitat and behavior: Found under the sand, preyed upon by moon snails which drill holes in their shells.

fat gaper

Scientific name: Tresus capax

Family: Mactridae

Phylum: Mollusca

Typical size: Shell can be as large as 10-28 cm across

Depth range: Intertidal to 30 meters

Description: The shell is oval shaped and white in color with thick grooves revealing shell growth. The outermost layer of the shell (periostracum) is a dark brown or grey color. When buried in the sand, only the siphon is visible. The tube is grey in color and has fleshy teeth-looking projections directed towards the inside of the tube. Often mistaken for the larger pacific geoduck species that has a ‘toothless’ siphon.

Habitat and behavior: This clam buries itself in the sand with the siphon sticking out. It can use its large and strong foot to dig and jump away from predators. Sometimes crabs live in the mantle of the clam. Predators include the moon snail, Dungeness crabs, and sea stars.

green false-jingle

Scientific name: Pododesmus macrochisma

Family: Anomiidae

Phylum: Mollusca

Typical size: Up to 13 centimeters in diameter

Depth range: Up to 90 meters

Description: They look like a flattened clam. They have two asymmetrical grey/white shells usually covered with barnacles or sponges. The upper shell is circular with a small curve, the lower shell is flatter and has an oval hole where it holds on to rocks/surfaces. Their name comes from the green color on the inside of the shells.

Habitat and behavior: They live from the Bering Sea to Baja California. They attach to rocks, docks, pilings. They live in low current areas.

heart cockle

Scientific name: Clinocardium nutallii

Family: Cardiidae

Phylum: Mollusca

Typical size: up to 14cm

Depth range: Intertidal to 60m

Description: Thick, rounded shell with thick vertical ribs or ridges. The shell may have random brown bands or splotches in coloration, but are otherwise a cream or grey.

Habitat and behavior: This clam lives underneath or on the sand, and has short siphons. It is preyed on by sea stars and the moon snail. It has a long, muscular foot that it uses to propel itself away from predators. 

pacific geoduck

Scientific name: Panopea abrupta

Family: Hiatellidae

Phylum: Mollusca

Typical size: The shell can be up to 20 cm across, while the siphon can stretch to a meter.

Depth range: intertidal to 30 meters

Description: Large, oblong and slightly rectangular shell. The shell is white in color with a dark periostracum. Its siphon is extremely thick and pale pink in color.

Habitat and behavior: The largest burrowing clam. They dig about a meter below the surface of the sand, and stretch their long siphon to feed. Adult clams cannot close their shells because the siphon is too large. One of the longest living animals in the world, up to 140 years.

Rough Piddock

Scientific name: Zirfaea pilsbryi

Family: Pholadidae

Phylum: Mollusca

Typical size: 15 centimeters long

Depth range: 137 meters

Description: Shell is grey and brown in color and half smooth and half rough with ridges and points. It has a long and flesh siphon that comes out of the smooth end of its shell. The siphon is a dark color with white zebra-like stripes.

Habitat and behavior: Found on beaches in holes. The clam digs down into the sand until it finds a rock, then they start to burrow into that rock. It is very common to see a Piddock siphon sticking out of the sand.