''Carditamera gracilis'', or the West Indian cardita, is a species of

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 ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Carditidae Carditidae is a family of marine bivalve clams of the order Carditida, which was long included in the Venerida. They are the type taxon of the superfamily Carditoidea. Carditidae is a neglected and poorly classified family. It has six sub ...

. It can be found off the coast of the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

.Abbott, R.T. & Morris, P.A. ''A Field Guide to Shells: Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and the West Indies.'' New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1995. 45.

Description

''Carditamera gracilis'' has an elongated shell, strong medium size about 40 mm. It has more pronounced radial rib and high in the back. Its color is white with brown spots; inside is pearly.Lodeiros Seijos, J.M., Marin Espinosa, Baumar. y Prieto Arcas, Antulio. 1999: Catalogo de moluscos marinos de las costas nororientales de Venezuela: Clase Bivalvia. Asociacion de Profesores de la Universidad de Oriente, Cumana-Venezuela.Macsotay O. & Campos. R. 2001. Moluscos representativos de la plataforma de Margarita. Editora Rivolta. Valencia. 280p.

Distribution

''Carditamera gracilis'' is distributed through the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

and the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

Habitat

It usually inhabits shallow water, attached to rocky substrates.

References

Carditidae Bivalves described in 1856 {{bivalve-stub