Home > Northwest Shells & Marine Life > PNW Shells & Marine Life Photos > Bivalves >  Bivalves - Hiatellidae


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Click on photo to enlarge.  Scale line in photo equals 1cm unless otherwise specified.
* Species which are commonly encountered on the beach.





Hiatellidae
Hiatella arctica Hiatella arctica Hiatella arctica
                       Petersburg, AK                                             Semiahmoo Spit, WA, intertidal      Gabriola Island, BC, intertidal - in an empty pholad hole
Hiatella arctica (Linnaeus, 1767)
Arctic Hiatella *
intertidal to 1190m          Chile to northern Alaska; Japan     size to 78mm, but usually less than 50mm
This is commonly found intertidally.  Juveniles are often found bysally attached under rocks.  The shell surface can be rather rough looking.  This species is under study and it is possible there is more than one species involved.



Bivalves 

Family Hiatellidae







   




Panomya ampla Panomya ampla Panomya ampla
                              unknown locations                                                                       Port Angeles, WA  siphons, subtidal
Panomya ampla Dall, 1898
Ample Roughmya
intertidal to 150m     Puget Sound, WA to northern Alaska          size to 90mm
This is rarely found intertidally, and then usually washed up into rocks on a beach with high wave activity.  The shell can be highly variable and irregular in shape.  The interior has very distinctive markings.  The siphon has a pink to orange ring on the inside edge of the siphon and the siphon interior may be white to orangish. 





Panopea generosa Panopea generosa
                            Puget Sound, WA                                                         Marrowstone Island, WA, freshly dug from sand


 














Panopea generosa Gould, 1850
Pacific Geoduck *
intertidal to 100m          central California to central Alaska; Panama; Japan to Siberia          size to 230mm
Commonly found intertidally in sand and mud, or at least the siphons are seen.  This clam is one of the deepest burrowers and may be as far as 3 ft. below the surface of the sand.  They can also be very long-lived, reaching an age of 130 years or more.  The siphons are distinctive above the sand at low tide.  They can be as thick as your wrist and are smooth and pale in color.  They may flop to the sand if they protrude more than a few inches.  The top of the siphon is smooth with no finger-like projections on the inside of the siphon holes.  Horseclam siphons are often mistaken for Geoducks, but they have rough surfaced siphons with  leathery plates at the top exterior of the siphon and finger-like projections lining the tops of the siphon holes.
(synonym - Panopea abrupta)



Panomya norvegica
Haida Gwaii, BC










Panopea generosa Panopea generosa Panopea generosa
                  Dana Passage, WA, intertidal                               Bremerton, WA, intertidal                                     juveniles


Panomya norvegica (Spengler, 1793)
Arctic Roughmya
subtidal, 20-640m          size to 110mm
Circumpolar stretching south to Japan, northern Oregon, Virginea & Britain;
has occasionally been found as far south as southern California
This is a large, thick shell, without the prominent muscle scars of the P. ampla.
(synonyms - Mya norvegica, Panomya arctica



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This page last revised: 5-25-2019