Relevant Synonyms - Misidentification Dosinia radiata Reeve (Vailant, 1865) Dosinia amphidesmoides Reeve [Moazzo, 1939]  photo: S. Gofas / Coll. G. Spada

SHORT DESCRIPTION Shell equivalve, rather equilateral, medium sized. Outline almost circular as long as high, becoming longer in aged specimens. Lunule deeply impressed. No escutcheon. Sculpture of narrow-spaced concentric ridges, rather elevated, which may become irregular at the posterior end. Pallial line very deep, triangular shaped pointing upwards. Inner margin smooth. color : externally white to beige, usually with radial brownish rays. Internally white. common size : to 55 mm. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Dosinia erythraea is very similar to the Mediterranean and Atlantic species Dosinia exoleta Linnaeus, 1758. It differs from the latter in having a rougher sculpture which elevated concentric ridges. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Infaunal siphonate, actively mobile, unattached organisms. Suspension feeder. Burrowing follows the general pattern of other representatives of Veneridae. habitat : in the Suez Gulf very frequent in the lagoon communicating with the Timsah lake (Moazzo, 1939). Its congeneric D. exoleta is most abundant in clean and coarse shell sand between 2-3 m depth (Tunberg, 1984) but has been recorded down to 140 m (Forbes and Hanley, 1853).

1st Mediterranean record Egypt, 1905 [no collecting date]. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide: Red Sea; common in the Suez Canal (Bavay, 1898). Mediterranean: only known from the original record in Port Said, Egypt (Tillier and Bavay, 1905). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Doubtful. Although it is very common in the Gulf of Suez, it was not found by Moazzo in Port Said in 1939 and has not spread further into the Mediterranean. speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via the Suez Canal. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS Edible.

KEY REFERENCES Bavay M., 1898. Note sur les mollusques du Canal de Suez. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 23: 161-165. Moazzo P.G., 1939. Mollusques testacés marins du Canal de Suez. Mémoires de l'Institut d'Egypte, 38: 1-283 [Dosinia erythraea, pp.85-86]. Tillier L. and Bavay A., 1905. Les mollusques testacés du Canal de Suez. Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France, 30: 170-181.   FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

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