MYIDAE
soft-shell clams

  Sphenia rueppelli
Adams A., 1850

Relevant Synonyms
Cuspidaria adenensis Jousseaume, 1888

Misidentification
-

 drawing: Tuvia Kurz    

SHORT DESCRIPTION
Shell small, almost equivalve, inequilateral. Outline elongate-oval usually tapering posteriorly but often distorted and slightly gaping. Height to length ratio varying resulting in shells higher than long or very elongate. Surface irregular. Sculpture of growth lines. Periostracum heavy. Ligament internal on a chondrophore. Pallial sinus deep. Ventral margin smooth.

color : white with brown perostracum.

common size : shell to 10 mm.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
Very different from Sphenia binghami Turton, 1822 the only other known species of the genus in the Mediterranean. Its main difference is in that the posterior part is narrowly rostrate.

BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY
The Myidae are generally deep burrowers in soft sediments. Sphenia differs from most Myidae in adopting a nestling habit, attached by a weak byssus in crevices and among algae. Suspension feeder.

habitat : lives within madreporic rocks and is subjected to numerous deformations. In tunnel. Shells on beach, under stone.


1st Mediterranean record
Israel, 1986 [1978].


DISTRIBUTION
Worldwide: Arabian Sea, Red Sea; recorded in the Suez Canal (Moazzo, 1939). Mediterranean: only from Israel, Netanya, in 1978 (Barash and Danin, 1986).

ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS
Extremely rare; record based on one shell. Quite unlikely to become established considering its habitat.

speculated reasons for success :
-


MODE OF INTRODUCTION
Presumably via the Suez Canal by shipping (fouling on ship hulls).


IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS
None.


KEY REFERENCES

  • Barash A. and Danin Z., 1986. Further additions to the knowledge of Indo-Pacific mollusca in the Mediterranean Sea. Spixiana, 9(2): 117-141.
  • Dekker H. and Orlin Z., 2000. Check-list of Red Sea Mollusca. Spirula, 47(suppl.): 1-46.
  • Moazzo P.G., 1939. Mollusques testacés marins du Canal de Suez. Mémoires de l'Institut d'Egypte, 38: 1-283 [Sphenia rüppelli, p.146].

 

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Last update : December 2003

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