3 Id's please

[goosey]

I think a. is possibly a venus shell?

a. b. c.

[chris butterworth]

a. is Chamalea gallina, a Venus Shell and c. is Spisula subtruncata. I'm not sure about b. though. It is sometimes helpful if you can see the inside of the shell with bivalves as the position + shape of things like the adductor muscle scars ( the two big marks on either end of the shell ), the pallial line and sinus ( the line that joins the two adductor muscle scars and the indent in the line ) and the teeth by the hinge as they can be specific to genera.

Chris

It's just come to me . b. is Spisula solida. BTW the hole at the tip of the S. subtruncata is where either a Whelk, or more likely a Necklace Shell has bored in to predate the mollusc .

C

Ooops. I've just noticed you mention predation by Necklace Shell in the other post about Donax vittatus

C

[goosey]

Originally Posted by chris butterworth

a. is Chamalea gallina, a Venus Shell and c. is Spisula subtruncata. I'm not sure about b. though. It is sometimes helpful if you can see the inside of the shell with bivalves as the position + shape of things like the adductor muscle scars ( the two big marks on either end of the shell ), the pallial line and sinus ( the line that joins the two adductor muscle scars and the indent in the line ) and the teeth by the hinge as they can be specific to genera.

Chris

It's just come to me . b. is Spisula solida. BTW the hole at the tip of the S. subtruncata is where either a Whelk, or more likely a Necklace Shell has bored in to predate the mollusc .

C

Ooops. I've just noticed you mention predation by Necklace Shell in the other post about Donax vittatus

C

Thanks for the ID's Chris and for the pointers for future ID's , I will try to remember to get photo's of the inside aswell.

What the tide brings up and when is truely fascinating. That day there were so many shells and hardly any razor shells. Where as another day there could be thousands up on thousands of razorshells and hardly a normal shell. A few weeks back the beach had large area's of tiny bits of wood, which looked like the stuff you get from garden centers as mulch (when I found amber ). One day last week there was a patch of what was almost sparkly black grit and larger bits of driftwood. There never seems to be much seaweed though.

[chris butterworth]

Originally Posted by goosey

One day last week there was a patch of what was almost sparkly black grit

We sometimes get that here. If you look carefully it usually turns out to be coarse coal dust.

Originally Posted by goosey

There never seems to be much seaweed though.

There is a lack of hard substrate around the majority of the North Sea - so very little for seaweed to attach to.

Chris