Click on photo to enlarge. Scale line in photo equals 1cm unless otherwise specified.
* Species which are commonly encountered on the beach.
Bivalves
Family Hiatellidae
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)
Haida Gwaii, BC
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)
This page last revised: 5-25-2019