Bivalves
Family Lasaeidae & Trapezidae
Click on photo to enlarge. Scale line in photo equals 1cm unless otherwise specified.
* Species which are commonly encountered on the beach.
Lasaeidae
live specimen
Kellia suborbicularis (Montagu, 1803)Suborbicular Kellyclam
intertidal to 20m size to 25mm
Peru to central Alaska, New York to Greenland, the Mediterranean
to Iceland, and Honshu, Japan to the Kurile Islands
This is occasionally found intertidally. The shell is thin and the
periostracum is thin and yellowish. Likes to live inside bottles and
holes in rocks.
(previous names - Kellia laperousii, Kellia japonica, Mya suborbicularis)
Neotrapezium liratum (Reeve,1843)
Quadrate Trapezium
intertidal size to 53mm
introduced to various locations in BC with oyster seed, native to the western Pacific
It is easily found where it is established. The shell is oblong with irregular
concentric growth lines. The interior is often purplish. It attaches bysally to rocks
and oyster shells.
(previous names - Trapezium liratum, Trapezium japonicum)
Rochefortia tumida (Carpenter, 1964)
Robust Mysella
intertidal to 973m size to 5mm
northern Mexico to northern Alaska
This tiny clam is rarely found. It is best located by digging a hole in the sand and sifting with a sieve.
This page last revised: 3-19-2011
Neaeromya rugifera(Carpenter, 1864)Mud Shrimp Clamintertidal to 56m size to 22mm
northern Mexico to southern Alaska
This is rarely found. It exists attached
to the abdomen of the blue mud shrimp
or the setae of the bristleworm.
(previous name - Pseudopythina rugifera)
