Macoma Inquinata Phylum: Mollusca Class: Bivalvia; Heterodonta Order: Veneroida Irus Clam Family: Tellinidae
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Macoma inquinata Phylum: Mollusca Class: Bivalvia; Heterodonta Order: Veneroida Irus clam Family: Tellinidae Taxonomy: Macoma balthica, M. nasuta and have short lateral hinge teeth (when present – M. inquinata were all originally described as see Possible Misidentifications), shells with members of the genus Tellina. Tellina external striations or ribs, and deep pallial inquinata and T. irus, initially described as sinuses (Coan and Valentich-Scott 2007). different species (the former with eastern When holding closed shell in both hands with Pacific distribution, the latter with western), the hinged area up and the ligaments toward were synonymized in the genus you, the right valve is in the right hand (Fig. 4) Heteromacoma. Later, this synonymization (Keen and Coan 1974). was reversed based on characters of shell Body: morphology and Macoma inquinata Color: (previously, and confusingly, called M. irus) Interior: Ligament is long, strong, was deemed a member of the genus narrow, and prominent (Figs. 1, 4). It is not Macoma, with an eastern Pacific distribution seated on a nymph, but is entirely external while H. irus, remained a Heteromacoma, with (Tellinidae, Coan and Valentich-Scott 2007). a the western Pacific (see Keen 1962; Coan Exterior: 1971). Thus, known synonyms for M. Byssus: inquinata include T. inquinata as well as M. Gills: irus. Subspecific designations are also Shell: Shape ovate or subovate, but not sometimes seen (e.g. Macoma circular. Posterior end is narrower and less heteromacoma inquinata, Kabat and O’Foighil rounded than anterior end. Shell is heavy, 1987). Macoma inquinata is the name almost not fragile and inflated, with subcentral exclusively used in current intertidal guides umbones (Fig. 1). Occasionally, there is a (e.g. Coan and Valentich-Scott 2007). slight gape and flex to right on the posterior end (Dunnill and Ellis 1969). Description Interior: Pallial line is not detached Size: Individuals up to 55 mm in length from the anterior ventral end of pallial sinus (Coan 1971). The illustrated specimen (Fig. (Fig. 2) and is longer in the left valve (Fig. 3). 1) is 44 mm in length, 35 mm in height, and The pallial sinus reaches almost to the 18 mm in diameter. anterior adductor scar, or just to its base in Color: Shell is dull white, with a dark and the left valve (Fig. 3) (Coan 1971). The pallial opaque periostracum (not shiny) (see Fig. sinuses are similar in the two valves (e.g. 294, Kozloff 1993). Interior shell is compare to M. nasuta, this guide). porcellanous white and feebly polished Exterior: External shell bears (Dunnill and Ellis 1969). Siphons are only conspicuous concentric sculptural undulations barely yellowish in color (Kozloff 1993). (Fig. 1). General Morphology: Bivalve mollusks are Hinge: Hinge with ligament is entirely bilaterally symmetrical with two lateral valves external and no lateral teeth (Macoma, Coan or shells that are hinged dorsally and and Valentich-Scott 2007). Hinge area surround a mantle, head, foot and viscera includes two cardinal teeth in each valve, but (see Plate 393B, Coan and Valentich-Scott no lateral teeth (Fig. 5). 2007). Among the bivalves, the Heterodonta Eyes: are characterized by ctenidia (or gills) that Foot: are eulamellibranchiate, fused mantle Siphons: The inhalant and exhalant siphons margins and the presence of long siphons. are completely separate (Fig. 1a) (Quayle Veneroid bivalves have well-developed hinge 1970; Kozloff 1993). teeth and members of the family Tellinidae Burrow: Hiebert, T.C. 2015. Macoma inquinata. 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/1794/12908 and full 3rd edition: http://hdl.handle.net/1794/18839 Email corrections to: [email protected] Possible Misidentifications sand clam and has a quadrate and truncate Tellinids can be distinguished from posterior. The latter is elongate, has a other small or young bay clams (i.e. pointed posterior, unique muscle scars, is Mactridae: Tresus; Veneridae: Protothaca, relatively rare and small (to 2.5 cm) and Saxidomus; Myidae: Mya, Cryptomya) an occurs from Trinidad, California southward. external ligament, an ovate shell, an Macoma secta, also has a white shell, with a inconspicuous nymph (or supporting yellowish epidermis. Its right valve is more projection for the external ligament), inflated than the left, and it can be large (to sometimes reddish hue and lateral teeth as 120 mm) and is more common in clean sand, well as a shell with ribs or striations (no radial not in estuarine mud. pattern) and shells that never gape. Lateral The morphology of the pallial sinus teeth may or may not be present in the differentiates the other species. In species Tellinidae (Coan 1971). Myids have a hinge without a posterior dorsal flange, M. acolasta with a spoon-shaped chondrophore (left and M. yoldiformis, the anterior ventral edge valve) and a projecting tooth (right valve) (see of the pallial sinus is detached for a portion of Mya arenaria, this guide). Venerids have the distance to the posterior adductor muscle three cardinal teeth in each valve. Mactrids scar. Macoma acolasta also has a rounded have an internal ligament, A-shaped cardinal posterior, rather than pointed as in M. teeth, and gaping valves (Coan and yoldiformis and is rare, sand-dwelling, and Valentich-Scott 2007). The Tellinidae has occurs from Bodega Bay, California, around 16 species distributed between two southward. Macoma yoldiformis is elongate, genera locally – Tellina and Macoma. These inflated, and thin, with the pallial sinus genera can be differentiated by the hinge detached from the pallial line. Although the teeth, Tellina species have a hinge with range of this clam is from Vancouver south to lateral teeth, while Macoma species do not. Baja California, it is not included in Puget Macoma species have shells that are also Sound or British Columbia work (Dunnill and more rounded and inflated thanTellina, and Ellis 1969). It can be found in silt in low are smooth, white, often chalky. They are intertidal of protected bays (Coan and characterized by having a ovate shell Valentich-Scott 2007). consisting of two equal valves, a dark and Macoma inquinata, M. nasuta and M. deciduous periostracum, two cardinal teeth, balthica (see descriptions in this guide) are all the absence of lateral teeth and a pallial sinus species with an anterior ventral edge of pallial that is deeper on the left valve (Scott and sinus that is not detached and they tend to be Blake 1998; Arruda and Domaneschi 2005). larger (up to 110 mm) than M. acolasta or M. Macoma species may also have a more yoldiformis (less than 30 mm). Macoma northern geographic distribution whileTellina balthica has a pinkish hue and a pallial sinus are elongate, relatively compressed, that ends ¾ of the way to anterior adductor conspicuously sculptured, brightly colored, muscle scar and is generally more oval than and usually warm water dwellers (Coan M. nasuta or M. inquinata (Kozloff 1993). In 1971). Eleven species in the infaunal genus M. inquinata, the pallial sinus does not reach Macoma (Luttikhuizen et al. 2012) are the ventral end of the anterior adductor reported locally (although 30 have been muscle. Macoma nasuta, on the other hand, identified in the northeastern Pacific, Dunnill is not as round and heavy as M. inquinata and Ellis 1969), but only seven are described and its pallial sinus reaches and joins the in local keys (e.g. Coan and Valentich-Scott anterior adductor scar above its base (left 2007), the four most common species of valve). (Its right valve may be more like M. Macoma in our area are M. balthica, M. inquinata’s). Furthermore, its siphons are nasuta, M. inquinata, and M. secta (Kabat orange and its shell posterior is bent to the and O’Foighil 1987). right (hence the name, bent-nose clam). Two species, M. secta and M. Macoma inquinata can also bend slightly indentata have a posterior dorsal flange posteriorly, and may be confused with the extending from posterior end to the external thinner M. nasuta, without investigations of ligament, this is absent in other Macoma the other aforementioned features. In M. species. The former species is called the the balthica, the pallial sinus that reaches to 1/4 Hiebert, T.C. 2015. Macoma inquinata. 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. the anterior adductor muscle scar and the Temperature: Cold to temperate waters. shell has a pinkish hue. (see Plate 422 for The presence of M. inquinata in the fossil diagrams of these distinguishing record at Newport Bay, California during the characteristics in Macoma). late Pleistocene suggests historically cooler Macoma incongrua, generally a temperatures in that region (Powell 2001). northern species, is the species closest to M. Tidal Level: Intertidal and subtidal (Kabat inquinata. It can be found intertidally to 36 and O’Foighil 1987) to 48 m offshore (Coan meters. It is quite circular in outline, its pallial 1971). sinuses extend longer than in M. inquinata, Associates: Often co-occurs with the and are different between its two valves, they congener, M. nasuta (South Slough of Coos are similar in M. inquinata's valves. Macoma Bay). Juvenile pea crabs, Pinnixia littoralis, incongrua averages 30–40 mm in length can occur within the mantle cavity of M. (Dunnill and Ellis 1969). inquinata and M. nasuta in Puget Sound, (The following species may be present Washington (Haderlie and Abbott 1980). locally, but are not included in local Abundance: Common in bays (Kozloff 1993; dichotomous keys).