Venerupis decussata is a marine

Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 bivalve

Bivalvia

Bivalvia is a taxonomic class of marine and freshwater molluscs. This class includes clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, and many other families of molluscs that have two hinged shells...

 mollusc

Mollusca

The Mollusca , common name molluscs or mollusksSpelled mollusks in the USA, see reasons given in Rosenberg's ; for the spelling mollusc see the reasons given by , is a large phylum of invertebrate animals. There are around 85,000 recognized extant species of molluscs. Mollusca is the largest...

 in the family Veneridae

Veneridae

The Veneridae or venerids, also known as the Venus clams, are a very large family of minute to large, saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs. There are over 500 living species of venerid bivalves, most of which are edible, and many of which are exploited as a food source.Many of the most...

, commonly known as the cross-cut carpet shell.

Taxonomy

The species name Venerupis decussata (Linnaeus, 1758) is considered valid by the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) with a range limited to the north east Atlantic Ocean. The Integrated Taxonomic Identification System (ITIS) also accepts the name as valid and states that it has a synonym

Synonym

Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...

, Tapes decussata. WoRMS accepts as valid the name of another species, Ruditapes decussatus

Grooved carpet shell

The grooved carpet shell, Ruditapes decussatus, is a clam or bivalve mollusc in the family Veneridae. It is distributed worldwide and due to its ecological and economic interest has been proposed as a bioindicator....

(Linnaeus, 1758), a species with a world-wide distribution. It states that among the synonyms of this species are Tapes decussata (Linnaeus, 1758) and Tapes (Ruditapes) decussatus (Linnaeus, 1758).

Description

The shell

Mollusc shell

The mollusc shell is typically a calcareous exoskeleton which encloses, supports and protects the soft parts of an animal in the phylum Mollusca, which includes snails, clams, tusk shells, and several other classes...

 of Venerupis decussata is robust and can grow to a length of 75mm (3in). Each valve is broadly oval or rhomboidal, with the umbones set towards the anterior end. The posterior hinge line is straight and the posterior margin truncate. The anterior hinge line slopes slightly down towards the more steeply sloping anterior margin. There are three cardinal teeth on each valve, the central one on the left valve and the posterior two on the right valve being bifid (having two points). The sculpture on the shell is bold, with both concentric ridges and radiating rays. The annual growth lines can be seen clearly. The general colour is creamy white and there are sometimes faint purplish radial bands. The interior is glossy white sometimes with a yellow tinge and often a bluish shading near the hinge. The adductor muscle scars and the pallial line are distinct, the latter having a distinctive U-shaped pallial sinus extending half way across the valve. The animal itself is pale grey or cream coloured with the mantle fringed with white. The siphons are separate for all their length and have brownish tips where they reach the surface.

Distribution

The range of Venerupis decussata extends from the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 and British Isles

British Isles

The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

 southwards to the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

 and north Africa. It is found buried in soft substrates, sand, muddy sand, gravel or clay, on the lower shore and at depths down to a few metres in the intertidal zone

Intertidal zone

The intertidal zone is the area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide . This area can include many different types of habitats, with many types of animals like starfish, sea urchins, and some species of coral...

.