| Venus clam Temporal range: Oligocene–Recent |
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|---|---|
| Venus affinis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Bivalvia |
| Subclass: | Pteriomorphia |
| Order: | Veneroida |
| Family: | Veneridae |
| Genus: | Venus Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Species | |
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See text. |
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Venus is a genus of small to large saltwater clams in the family Veneridae, which is sometimes known as the Venus clams and their relatives. These are marine bivalve molluscs.
The genus Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love, Venus. The common names of clams in this genus often include the word Venus. However, there are also some bivalves that are still called Venus clams because they used to be in the genus Venus, even though they are now placed in other genera. For example, the species within the genus Mercenaria were formerly in the genus Venus.
The family Veneridae contains over four hundred known species, many of which are attractive and popular with shell-collectors.
A few species that still have "venus" as part of their common name, but which are no longer in the genus Venus are:
The shell of venerids varies in shape, and includes shells that are circular, triangular and rectangular. Characteristically venus clams possess a porcelain-like inner shell layer, 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.