Atactodea striata | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Bivalvia |
Order: | Venerida |
Family: | Mesodesmatidae |
Genus: | Atactodea |
Species: | A. striata |
Binomial name | |
Atactodea striata Gmelin, 1791 |
Atactodea striata, common name striated beach clam or striated little trough shell, is a species of surf clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Mesodesmatidae.
Description
Atactodea is the abundant, small, relatively strongly concentrically ribbed mesodesmatid.
Distribution
Found in atoll lagoons throughout the Indo-Pacific including Madagascar, India, Viet Nam, China, Philippines, Tarawa, Malaysia, Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Tuvalu, Fiji, Japan (up to Kii Peninsula, Honshu), and Vanuatu. It has been introduced in the Mediterranean Sea in the areas of Israel and Malta.
Habitat
Found in sandy substrates in the intertidal zone. This small surf clam may occur in abundance on high intertidal lagoon beaches.
Human use
These clams are readily available by foraging the inshore tidal flats, mangroves and rocks. Archeological evidence indicates that Atactodea striata were used as a subsistence food by the Lapita, a Neolithic people of the South Pacific, at least as early as 4,700 years ago. They are among the most common bivalves found in 2000 year-old shell middens in Papua New Guinea and in more recent shell middens in Australia. Called "Alure" in South Vanuatu Languages, Atactodea striata is harvested by the indigenous people of Vanuatu as a minor subsistence food. Atactodea striata is harvested, mostly by women, by gleaning intertidal zones. Women fishers walk the shoreline and shallows collecting Atactodea along with a variety of other common clams, bivalves, crabs, chitons, sea slugs, anemone and octopus. On Tarawa, indigenous people harvest Atactodea striata as a preferred baby food because of its small size.
References
- Malacological Society of Australia (1970). "A living species of Austrotriton from New South Wales". Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia. The Malacological Society of Australasia (Number 1 ed.). Malvern, Vic. : Malacological Society of Australia. pp. 87–94.
- Atlas of Living Australia. "Species: Atactodea striata (Striated Little Trough Shell/Triangle Shell)". bie.ala.org.au. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- "Atactodea striata (Gmelin, 1791)". www.gbif.org. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- "Indo-Pacific Molluscan Species Database at The Academy of Natural Sciences". clade.ansp.org. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ "THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF TANAMU 1 - A Pre-Lapita to Post-Lapita Site from Caution Bay, South Coast of Mainland Papua New Guinea. 2022.
- Tan, K. S.; Kastoro, W. W. (2004). A small collection of gastropods and bivalves from the Anambas and Natuna Islands, South China Sea.
- ^ Smithsonian Institution Press.; National Research Council (U.S.). Pacific Science Board; Smithsonian Institution; National Museum of Natural History (U.S.); United States. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife (1951). "BENTHIC ECOLOGY AND BIOTA OF TARAWA ATOLL LAGOON: INFLUENCE OF EQUATORIAL UPWELLING, CIRCULATION, AND HUMAN HARVEST". Atoll Research Bulletin no. 481-493 June 2001. Smithsonian Libraries. Washington, D.C. : .
- P Swadling (1977). CENTRAL PROVINCE SHELLFISH RESOURCES AND THEIR UTILIZATION IN THE PREHISTORIC PAST OF PAPUA NEW-GUINEA.
- Sally Brockwell; Patricia Bourke; Anne Clarke; Christine Crassweller; Patrick Faulkner; Betty Meehan; Sue O'connor; Robin Sim; Daryl Wesley (2011). Holocene settlement of the northern coastal plains, Northern Territory, Australia.
- Secretariat of the Pacific Community (2003). VANUATU COUNTRY REPORT: PROFILES AND RESULTS FROM SURVEY WORK AT PAUNANGISU VILLAGE, MOSO ISLAND, URI AND URIPIV ISLANDS AND THE MASKELYNE ARCHIPELAGO (PDF). Pacific Regional Oceanic and Coastal Fisheries Development Programme. ISBN 978-982-00-0265-4.
Taxon identifiers | |
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Atactodea striata |