Warty venus

Rough clam (Venus verrucosa )

The Rough clam (Venus verrucosa ) is a marine bivalve mollusc of the family of clams ( Veneridae ), which is the eponymous group for the order of Veneroida.

Features

The housing of the Rauen clam is round and measures to about 7 cm in length. The ornamentation consists of strong, concentric ribs smooth in the middle, but are occupied at the front and rear edge with powerful nodes. These nodes or " warts " have the scientific names of species verrucosa (Latin verrucosus warty = ) out. From these projections at the edges, which are absent in other species of clams, also results of the German -language name " Rough " clam. In the juvenile stage radial strips are formed yet, give the surface a net-like appearance.

Occurrence, lifestyle and dissemination

The Rough clam preferably occurs in coarse-grained sediments, but also in sandy- silty soils of the tidal range up to about 100 m water depth. The range extends in the eastern Atlantic from the coast of Norway to South Africa. It also occurs around the Canary Islands and Madeira, in the Mediterranean.

The Rough clam filtered phytoplankton. It is very common in parts of the range and is available in fish markets.