Arcuatula senhousia
(Benson in Cantor, 1842)
N. Borneo to Siberia, to India; Australia & New Zealand; NW. America & S. Europe. The species, the “Asian date mussel”, originates in China Sea.
Original taxon: Modiola senhousia.
Mediterranean: discovered in Tel Aviv area in year 1960.
Cagliari bay, S. Sardinia, december 2008. 12-22mm.
« Modiola Senhousia. Testâ transversè oblongâ, subalatâ, gibbâ, laeviusculâ ; anticè angustatâ, posticè dilatatâ, intùs iridescente ; epidermide olivaceâ, obscurè radiatâ ; alâ natibusque strigis flexuosis spadiceis ornatis ; basi leviter emarginatâ. […] Habitat: coasts of Chusan and Canton Province. » – W. H. Benson: “Mollusca” in T. Cantor: “General features of Chusan…”, Annals and magazine of natural history vol. IX num. LVIII, London 1842, via BHL.

A specimen from Mission Bay, San Diego, California. 23mm.
The hinge in a specimen from Westpoint Harbour, RedWood City, California. Original picture provided by R. G. Agarwal for iNaturalist – (CC BY-NC).
« The Asian date mussel lives most frequently burrowed in muddy bottoms, in huge numbers. It is rarely found, and only at juvenile stage, attached to algae (ulva…). The species appreciates nutrient-rich coastal lagoons and estuarine environments, and withstands large variations in salinity and temperature » (DORIS). Above: some specimens washed ashore at Bages lagoon, Narbonne, Occitania, S. France. 10-19,5mm. Collection A. Bertrand (FR). Notice the presence of a Xenostrobus securis (Lamarck, 1819) at right.

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