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.