Question

Characteristics of a Asian clam

Answer 1

A small light-colored bivalve with shell ornamented by distinct, concentric sulcations, anterior and posterior lateral teeth with many fine serrations. Dark shell morphs exist but are limited to the southwestern United States. The light-colored shell morph has a yellow-green to light brown periostracum and white to light blue or light purple nacre while the darker shell morph has a dark olive green to black periostracum and deep royal blue nacre (McMahon 1991). . (2001) reported yellow and brown shell color morphs among specimens collected from Sichuan Province in China. The shells of the yellow morphs were straw yellow on the outside and white on the inside; those of brown morphs were dark brown and purple, respectively. Further analyses revealed that the yellow and brown morphs are triploid and tetraploid, respectively.