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iNat·85598FamilyMollusca39,197 field observations
  1. Animals
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  4. ›Autobranchia
  5. ›Pteriomorphia
  6. ›Ark Shells and Allies
  7. ›Arks, Bittersweet Clams and allies
Ark Clams
Plate 1 of 6. (c) L.J. Lamera, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by L.J. Lamera · via iNaturalist

Ark Clams

Arcidae

Ark clam is the common name for a family of small to large-sized saltwater clams or marine bivalve molluscs in the family Arcidae. Generally less than 80 mm long, ark clams vary both in shape and size. They number about 200 species worldwide.

The group is known as "ark shells" because species such as Arca have a large flat area between the umbones which, in an undamaged shell, somewhat resembles a deck, with the rest of the shell perhaps illustrating an ancient wooden boat such as Noah's Ark is thought to have been.

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Where it lives

Recorded sightings

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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.

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Every page naming Arcidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →

This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 85598.