Relevant Synonyms Venus papyracea Gray, 1825 Clementia cumingii Deshayes, 1855 [Moazzo, 1939] Misidentification -  photo: W. Engl

SHORT DESCRIPTION Shell medium sized, thin and fragile, equivalve, inequilateral with umbones at the anterior 1/3 of the shell. Outline subovate; posterior dorsal margin long and gently sloping, anterior margin subacute. No lunule; escutcheon narrow. Sculpture of strong concentric lines and broad undulations more closely spaced at the umbonal area. Palial sinus deep, acute reaching beyond the mid line. color : white. common size : 60 to 70 mm. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Species easily distinguishable by the shape and thin shell. The only one of the genus in the Red Sea, has no congeneric in the Mediterranean. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Infaunal siphonate, actively mobile, unattached organisms with a suspension feeding mode (Todd, 2002). habitat : 27-50 m on muddy, sandy muddy substrata. In Southeastern Turkey found in the littoral zone down to 90 m water depth (Engl, pers. comm.).

1st Mediterranean record Gaza, Palestine, 1948 [1937]. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide: Indo-Pacific, including throughout the Red Sea; recorded in the Suez Canal (Moazzo, 1939). Mediterranean: successive records from Gaza, Palestine (Haas, 1948); Israel (Barash and Danin, 1973); southeastern Turkey from Gulf of Iskenderun to Alanya (Enzenross et al., 1990). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Not uncommon along shores of Israel and southeastern Turkey. speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via the Suez Canal. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS None.

KEY REFERENCES Barash A. and Danin Z., 1973. The Indo-Pacific species of mollusca in the Mediterranean and notes on a collection from the Suez canal. Israel Journal of Zoology, 21(3-4): 301-374. Barash A. and Danin Z., 1992. Fauna Palaestina: Mollusca I. Annotated list of Mediterranean molluscs of Israel and Sinai. The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Jerusalem, 405 p. + 372 figs. Enzenross L., Enzenross R. and Niederhöfer H.J., 1990. Wissenschaflich interssante Funde aus der Sammlung Enzenross (marine invertebraten). Jahreshefte der Gesellschaftten fuer Naturkunde in Wuerttemberg, 145: 283-294.   Haas G., 1948. Sur l'immigration de mollusques de l'Indo-Pacifique dans les eaux côtières de la Palestine. Journal de Conchyliologie, 88: 141-144. Niederhöfer H., Enzenross L. and Enzenross R., 1991. Neue Erkenntnisse über die Ausbreitung von "Lesseps'schen Einwanderern" (Mollusca) a der türkischen Mittelmeerküste. Club Conchilia Information, 23(3-4): 94-108. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

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