Hard clam
Hard clam | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Bivalvia |
Order: | Venerida |
Superfamily: | Veneroidea |
Family: | Veneridae |
Genus: | Mercenaria |
Species: | M. mercenaria
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Binomial name | |
Mercenaria mercenaria |
The hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), also known as the round clam, hard-shell (or hard-shelled) clam, or the quahog,
Confusingly, the "ocean quahog" is a different species, Arctica islandica, which, although superficially similar in shape, is in a different family of bivalves: it is rounder than the hard clam, usually has a black periostracum, and there is no pallial sinus in the interior of the shell.
Alternative names
The hard clam has many alternative common names. It is also known as the Northern quahog, round clam, or chowder clam.[1]
In fish markets, there are specialist names for different sizes of this species of clam. The smallest legally harvestable clams are called countnecks or peanuts, next size up are littlenecks, then topnecks. Above that are the cherrystones, and the largest are called quahogs or chowder clams.[2]
The most distinctive of these names is quahog (
In many areas where aquaculture is important, clam farmers have bred specialized versions of these clams with distinctions needed for them to be distinguished in the marketplace. These are quite similar to common "wild type" Mercenaria clams, except that their shells bear distinctive markings. These are known as the notata strain of quahogs, which occur naturally in low numbers wherever quahogs are found.[7]
Distribution
Hard clams are quite common throughout
Parasite
Quahog parasite unknown (QPX), Massachusetts in 1995.
Quahog parasite X (or quahog parasite unknown [QPX]) disease of the hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria is caused by a poorly known protistan parasite. Its DNA sequence analysis places the QPX parasite among the
Human use
In coastal areas of the New England states, Long Island, and New Jersey, restaurants known as
Historically,
A population of hard clams exists in Southampton Water in Hampshire, England. Originally bred in the warm water outflows at Southampton Power Station for use as eel bait, the population became self-sustaining and can now be found in Southampton Water and has also spread to Portsmouth Harbour and Langstone Harbour.
Clams and red tide
The term "
Notes
- ^ For the pronunciation and variant spellings of quahog, as well as for other alternative common names, see the appropriate section.
References
- ^ Harte, M. E. 2001. "Systematics and taxonomy, Chapter 1", pp. 3–51, in Kraeuter, J. N. and M. Castagna (eds.) "Biology of the Hard Clam", Developments in Aquaculture and Fisheries Science, Vol. 31. Elsevier Science B.V.: New York.
- ^ ISBN 0-938412-33-7 web link.
- ISBN 0-550-10105-5.
- ISBN 978-0-008-28437-4.
- ^ "Quahaug, quahog", in Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973)
- A Key Into the Language of America. London: Gregory Dexter, 1643.
- ^ Eldridge, P.J., W. Waltz, and H. Mills. 1975. Relative abundance of Mercenaria mercenaria notata in estuaries of South Carolina. Veliger 18:396-397.
- ^ "QPX". Marine Symbiosis.
- S2CID 86080870.
- .
- OCLC 772696326.
- OCLC 51204649.
- ^ a b c d e "Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning". Washington State Department of Health. 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
- ^ a b "Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning". Centre for Disease Control, British Columbia Health Services Authority. 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2020.