Chlamys australis
One valve of Chlamys australis from Australia, on display at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Pectinida
Family: Pectinidae
Genus: Chlamys
Species:
C. australis
Binomial name
Chlamys australis
Sowerby, 1844

Chlamys australis, common name the "austral scallop", is a species of scallop, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Pectinidae, the scallops.

Description

Chlamys australis has a shell which can reach an adult size of 70–100 millimetres (2.8–3.9 in). Like almost all scallops, the shell is fan-shaped and composed of two valves, each of which is convex and has broad ribs. The ribs radiate from the umbone, the rounded protuberance near the hinge. Again, like all scallops, beside the hinge are two irregular shelly flaps or auricles; the anterior one is normally much larger than the posterior one. Like all scallops the interior of each valve shows a central round scar which is the attachment area for the single strong adductor muscle which closes the two valves of the shell. The background color of the exterior of the shell in this species varies from yellow to light purple. Like almost all bivalve species, this one is a filter feeder, sieving microscopic algae from water that passes through its gills.

Distribution and habitat

This species is native to Southwest Australia. It lives on the seabed in the sublittoral zone.

References


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