Mya Arenaria Class: Bivalvia; Heterodonta Order: Myoida Soft-Shelled Clam Family: Myidae
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Phylum: Mollusca Mya arenaria Class: Bivalvia; Heterodonta Order: Myoida Soft-shelled clam Family: Myidae Taxonomy: Mya arenaria is this species cilia allow the style to rotate and press against original name and is almost exclusively used a gastric shield within the stomach, aiding in currently. However, the taxonomic history of digestion (Lawry 1987). In M. arenaria, the this species includes many synonyms, crystalline style can be regenerated after 74 overlapping descriptions, and/or subspecies days (Haderlie and Abbott 1980) and may (e.g. Mya hemphilli, Mya arenomya arenaria, contribute to the clam’s ability to live without Winckworth 1930; Bernard 1979). The oxygen for extended periods of time (Ricketts subgenera of Mya (Mya mya, Mya arenomya) and Calvin 1952). The ligament is white, were based on the presence or absence of a strong, and entirely internal (Kozloff 1993). subumbonal groove on the left valve and the Two types of gland cells (bacillary and goblet) morphology of the pallial sinus and pallial line comprise the pedal aperture gland or (see Bernard 1979). glandular cushion located within the pedal gape. It is situated adjacent to each of the Description two mantle margins and aids in the formation Size: Individuals range in size from 2–150 of pseudofeces from burrow sediments; the mm (Jacobson et al. 1975; Haderlie and structure of these glands may be of Abbott 1980; Kozloff 1993; Maximovich and phylogenetic relevance (Norenburg and Guerassimova 2003) and are, on average, Ferraris 1992). 50–100 mm (Fig. 1). Mean weight and length Exterior: were 74 grams and 8 cm (respectively) in Byssus: Wexford, Ireland (Cross et al. 2012). Gills: Individual weight varies seasonally and is Shell: Shell is soft, thin, fragile (hence “soft greatest just before spawning and the shell clam”, Kozloff 1993; Coan and smallest just after (range, 100–200 mg ash- Valentich-Scott 2007), and composed free dry weight, Wadden Sea, Zwarts 1991). completely of aragonite (MacDonald and Color: White with gray or dark, yellowish Thomas 1980). The valves have an oval and brown periostracum on shell edges, creating rounded anterior and a pointed posterior a rough outermost layer. Siphons are dark (Kozloff 1993) and gape at each end (Haderlie and Abbott 1980; Kozloff 1993; see (Haderlie and Abbott 1980). External shell Fig. 3, Zhang et al. 2012) sculpture is with concentric rings (Fig. 1). General Morphology: Bivalve mollusks are Interior: Deep pallial sinus and bilaterally symmetrical with two lateral valves spoon-shaped chondrophore, or triangular or shells that are hinged dorsally and projection, is present on the left valve only surround a mantle, head, foot and viscera (Haderlie and Abbott 1980; Kozloff 1993). (see Plate 393B, Coan and Valentich-Scott Left and right adductor muscle scars are the 2007). Myoid bivalves are burrowers and same size but very different in shape (Fig. 2). borers, with long siphons and hinges with few Exterior: Left and right valves are of teeth (Coan and Valentich-Scott 2007). similar morphology, which is long and egg- Body: Body is egg-shaped in outline (Fig. 1; shaped, with shells convex, thin and brittle Ricketts and Calvin 1952) (see Fig. 305, (Fig. 4). Low concentric growth striae on Kozloff 1993). anterior and posterior ends are different: Color: anterior are more blunt and posterior are Interior: A crystalline style (consisting pointed, but both ends gaping (Packard of a gelatinous cortex and liquid core, Lawry 1918). Beaks small, bent posteriorly, and 1987) resides in a sac lined with cilia. The slightly anterior of center (Fig. 2). Hiebert, T.C. 2015. Mya arenaria. In: Oregon Estuarine Invertebrates: Rudys' Illustrated Guide to Common Species, 3rd ed. T.C. Hiebert, B.A. Butler and A.L. Shanks (eds.). University of Oregon Libraries and Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Charleston, OR. A publication of the University of Oregon Libraries and the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology Individual species: http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12910 and full 3rd edition: http://hdl.handle.net/1794/18839 Email corrections to: [email protected] Hinge: Valve areas dissimilar and periostracum. It also bores into rock and hard with spoon-shaped chondrophore in left valve. clay while M. arenaria and C. californica Right valve is with tooth in opposition to burrow into sand or mud. The shells of the chondrophore (Fig. 3). No hinge plate teeth two latter species are relatively thin. In M. (cardinal or lateral). arenaria, the pallial sinus is deep and Eyes: individuals reach sizes of 150 mm, while in C. Foot: californica the pallial sinus is shallow, Siphons: Long, large siphons are fused, inconspicuous and individuals tend to be non-retractable (Coan and Valentich-Scott smaller (30 mm) (Coan and Valentich-Scott 2007; Tan and Beal 2015), and dark in color 2007). Mya arenaria is found as deep as 40 (Haderlie and Abbott 1980). cm and is not necessarily near Callianassa Burrow: Unlike the other local member of the californiensis burrows, where one might find Myidae, Cryptomya californica (see Cryptomya californica. The siphons are M. description in this guide), M. arenaria has arenaria are also longer than those of C. long siphons and can be found in relatively californica (see C. californica, Figs. 1, 6 in this deep burrows up to 40 cm (Haderlie and guide). Additionally, Sphenia luticola is a myid Abbott 1980; Kozloff 1993; Coan and species that may occur in our area, but is Valentich-Scott 2007; González et al. 2015). found offshore in rocks and within kelp holdfasts (Coan and Valentich-Scott 2007). Possible Misidentifications Juvenile Mya are not easily distinguished There are five bivalve subclasses based on from Sphenia species, but Mya can be morphology and fossil evidence and one of recognized by a large continuous pallial sinus those is the diverse Heterodonta. Recent (Coan 1999). molecular evidence (18S and 28S rRNA) Mya arenaria may be confused with suggests that the heterodont order Myoida is other local common clams, e.g. Saxidomus, non monophyletic (Taylor et al. 2007). The Tresus, Tellina or Macoma species. These family Myidae includes 25–40 species genera do not have an internal ligament or a worldwide, which can be divided into groups chondrophore. Small Tresus can otherwise such as those that are burrowing (Mya), those be mistaken for M. arenaria. Small Tellinid that are attached to shells or stone (Sphenia) clams have an external ligament without a or those utilizing the burrows of other species nymph, and lateral hinge teeth, which M. (Cryptomya, Paramya) (Zhang et al. 2012). arenaria lack. Macoma species (see Characters of the Myidae include a shell that descriptions in this guide) are very like is not cemented to the substratum, valves that Tellina, but their shells are always a bit are (relatively) morphologically similar, a flexed, they have no lateral teeth, and no dorsal margin without ears, a hinge with an internal coloration. Furthermore, where M. internal ligament in a distinct resilifer or arenaria is abundant is in upper reaches of chondrophore that is spoon shaped and estuaries where salinity is reduced, species present on the left valve (Coan and Valentich- in the genera Saxidomus and Tresus are not Scott 2007). Cryptomya species are usually found. characterized by hinge without tooth-like process anteriorly on the right valve. Mya, on Ecological Information the other hand, have thin shells, gaping Range: Type locality is Europe (Zhang et al. anteriorly and posteriorly and commarginal 2012). Current eastern Pacific distribution growth lines (Zhang et al. 2012). from Alaska to San Diego, California (Haderlie There are only three local myid and Abbott 1980). Current populations species including Platyodon cancellatus, Mya introduced from the Atlantic coast with oyster arenaria and Cryptomya californica (“the false spat in 1874 in San Francisco (Coan and Mya” see description in this guide). Platydon Valentich-Scott 2007), although it appears in cancellatus can be distinguished from the the fossil record (Ricketts and Calvin 1971) in latter two species because its shells are California and Vancouver (Packard 1918). heavy and with wavy commarginal sculpture However, M. arenaria is not represented in and a round anterior. It has a truncate, local Native American mounds (Kozloff 1993). gaping posterior end covered with The palaeontological history of M. arenaria Hiebert, T.C. 2015. Mya arenaria. In: Oregon Estuarine Invertebrates: Rudys' Illustrated Guide to Common Species, 3rd ed. T.C. Hiebert, B.A. Butler and A.L. Shanks (eds.). University of Oregon Libraries and Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Charleston, OR. was described by Fujie (1957, 1962), as the (Clements and Hunt 2014). Thermal stress species originated in the Pacific in the (e.g., associated with climate change) is Miocene, spread to the Atlantic into the accompanied by oxidative stress in marine Pliocene, became extinct in the Pacific mollusks, including M. arenaria, and leads to northwest by the Pleistocene was re- the mitochondrial production of reactive established and introduced from Atlantic oxygen species (Abele et al. 2002). Mya populations in 1880s and was re-introduced arenaria individuals respond to hypoxia by to the eastern Atlantic and Pacific during the reducing burrow depth and increasing siphon Pleistocene (Rasmussen and Heard 1995; extension (Taylor and Eggleston 2000). Zhang et al. 2012). Following introduction, M. Salinity: Tolerates brackish water and arenaria spread northward to Willapa Bay, reduced salinity, as well as full salt water Washington in 1880 and Alaska in 1950s (Haderlie and Abbott 1980; Kozloff 1993). (Haderlie and Abbott 1980; Ricketts and Temperature: Range limited to cool areas, Calvin 1952). Common on the Atlantic Coast although this species can also tolerate and Europe in areas of low salinity (e.g. Baltic temperatures below freezing (Ricketts and Sea, Kozloff 1993). It has crowded out the Calvin 1952). Eastern Atlantic southern native Macoma spp. on the Pacific coast in distribution set by critical maximum some areas (Keep and Longstreth 1935).