Venus fasciata
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Genus: Venus |
The Banded venus, Venus fasciata (under authority of da Costa in 1778) is of the phylum Mollusca which includes snails, slugs, mussels, cockles and clams and is among the class Pelecypoda, Bivalves which includes clams, cockles, mussels, oysters, and scallops.
The Banded venus has a recorded distribution and common around all coasts of Britain and Ireland. It is found in coarse gravel, typically containing sand or shell fragments, down to depths of as much as 100 meters.
This species is described as a solid, flat, sub-triangular shell which grows up to 2.5 cm in length. Surface color is variable; red, pink, purple, yellow or brown with radiating bands and colorful streaks. It may have up to fifteen broad concentric ridges on older specimen. The interior is dull white in color.
Venus is a genus of bivalve molluscs in the family Veneridae. Species currently classified in this genus are generally referred to as venuses or venus clams.
Veneridae contain over four hundred known species. Species vary in shape from circular to triangular. Characteristically venus clams possess a porcelain-like shell, a complex tooth structure in the hinge, well developed escutchion and lunule and a well developed pallial sinus. Veneridae colonize the sandy ocean bottom, and their populations are often dense and large.
The Veneroida order typically have a folded gill structure which is well developed for filtering out small food particles.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Banded venus - Clausinella fasciata
