LIMOPSIDAE

  Limopsis multistriata
(Forsskål, 1775)

Relevant Synonyms
Arca multistriata Forsskål, 1775
Pectunculus multistriatus

Misidentification
-

 drawing: Tuvia Kurz    

SHORT DESCRIPTION
Shell equivalve, equilateral. Outline almost circular. Taxodont hinge with teeth arranged in an arc. Sculpture with radial riblets and weak concentric lines more apparent in juveniles, so that in adults the umbonal area appears cancellate. Inner margin crenulate. Periostracum persistent, with fine bristles.

color : shell white with periostracum straw colored.

common size : 16 mm up to 30 mm.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
The small size, small dorsal area and the ligament which is confined to a small triangular shallow depression under the beaks. The only other species of the genus in Red Sea is a deep water one.

BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY
Suspension feeders, epifaunal, sedentary to actively mobile organisms.

habitat : in sands and fine gravels, in shallow water (Oliver, 1992). In the Mediterranean, one shell dredged to a depth of 48 m, with gravel bottom.


1st Mediterranean record
Israel, 1977 [1965].


DISTRIBUTION
Worldwide: Indo-Pacific and throughout the Red Sea, Gulf of Suez (Tillier and Bavay, 1905); recorded in the Suez Canal (Tomlin, 1927). Mediterranean: a single record in 1965 from Dor, Israel (Barash and Danin, 1977a).

ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS
Only one record based on one shell.

speculated reasons for success :
-


MODE OF INTRODUCTION
Via the Suez Canal.


IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS
None.


KEY REFERENCES

  • Barash A. and Danin Z., 1977a. Additions to the knowledge of Indo-Pacific Mollusca in the Mediterranean. Conchiglie, 13(5-6): 85-116.
  • Moazzo P.G., 1939. Mollusques testacés marins du Canal de Suez. Mémoires de l'Institut d'Egypte, 38: 1-283, Cairo [Limopsis multistriata p. 59].
  • Oliver P.G., 1992. Bivalved seashells of the Red Sea. Christa Hemmen, Wiesbaden and National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, 330 p.

 

  • Tillier L. and Bavay A., 1905. Les mollusques testacés du Canal de Suez. Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France, 30: 170-181.
  • Tomlin J.R. le B., 1927. Report on the Mollusca (Amphineura, Gastropoda, Scaphopoda, Pelecypoda). Zoological Results of the Cambridge Expedition to the Suez Canal, 1924. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, 22: 291-320.

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Last update : December 2003

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