''Scrobicularia plana'', the peppery furrow shell, is a

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

belonging to the family

Semelidae The Semelidae are a family of saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the order Cardiida. Description Members of this family have rounded or oval, elongated shells, much flattened. The two valves are connected by an internal ligament in c ...

Taxonomy

Although ''Scrobicularia plana'' is the only species currently recognized by ITIS in the genus ''Scrobicularia''; World Register of Marine Species recognises another species, ''

Scrobicularia cottardi ''Scrobicularia'' is a genus of bivalve mollusc belonging to the family Semelidae. It is sometimes placed in its own family, Scrobicularidae. Species There are two recognised species: *'' Scrobicularia cottardi'' (Payraudeau, 1826) *''Scrobicula ...

'' as well as some nomen dubia, as does the BioLib. The genus ''Scrobicularia'' is sometimes placed as the sole genus in a family, Scrobicularidae. It is now often placed instead in the related family

, as shown in the infobox. However this placement may change as molecular systematics provides new insights into the cladistics of the bivalves.

Description

The shell can be anything from white through yellowish to a pale brownish-grey in colour, up to 6.5 cm in diameter. Its interior is

nacre Nacre ( , ), also known as mother of pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre is f ...

ous and white or yellowish in colour. The shell is thin but quite deep, with circular closely packed growth ridges. It is a

filter feeder Filter feeders are a sub-group of suspension feeding animals that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water, typically by passing the water over a specialized filtering structure. Some animals that use this method of feedin ...

, with long

siphon A siphon (from grc, σίφων, síphōn, "pipe, tube", also spelled nonetymologically syphon) is any of a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. In a narrower sense, the word refers particularly to a tube in a ...

s, burying itself up to 20 cm deep in sand or mud. When buried, it leaves star-shaped markings on the surface, and specimens can be found by looking for these. If the siphons are browsed by fish or other predators, they regenerate in a few days.

Right and left valve of the same specimen: File:Scrobicularia plana 01.jpg, Right valve File:Scrobicularia plana 02.jpg, Left valve

Distribution and habitat

This species is commonly found at quite high densities on sandy or muddy sea coasts and estuaries in northern Europe, the Mediterranean and West Africa.

Commercial use

The peppery furrow shell is edible and can be found in some fish shops in France, where they are called ''lavignons''.

References

External links

Movie clip of peppery furrow shell feeding
Semelidae Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea Taxa named by Emanuel Mendes da Costa Bivalves described in 1778 {{bivalve-stub