Mactra ovata
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| Mactra ovata | ||||||||||||||
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| Mactra ovata Pfeiffer, 1864 |
Mactra ovata is a trough shell of the family Mactridae, endemic to New Zealand. It is found intertidally and in shallow water, deeply buried in soft mud in estuaries and tidal flats.
The shell is large, thin, roundly ovate and inflated, without a posterior ridge. The surface is almost smooth. It makes contact with the surface through its breathing tubes which are long and fused. It feeds on minute organisms and detritus floating in the water when the tide covers the shell's site.
Coloration is white to yellowish-brown, with a thin, silky yellowish-olive periostracum.
Maximum height is 66 mm, length 85 mm, and thickness 44 mm.
[edit] References
- Miller M & Batt G, Reef and Beach Life of New Zealand, William Collins (New Zealand) Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1973
- Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
