Callista chione

Callista chione (Linnaeus, 1758)

English Channel to Cararias, Azores to Mediterranean, in sands, infralittoral to upper continental shelf.
Original taxon: Venus chione. Synonyms: glaber, vulgaris.

« Eine der schönsten Bivalven des Mittelmeers, die an den Küsten der Balearen und Spaniens, Südfrankreich, Piemont, Corsica, Sardinia, Neapel, Sicilien, Ustica, Adria-Venedig, Triest und Pirano, Zara, Malta, Morea [Peloponnese], Aegeische Inseln, Tunis, Algerien, in Tiefen von 5 to 40 Faden fein sandigen Grundes gefunden wird. In atlantischen Ocean an den Südküsten von England und Irland, Holland, Frankreich, Spanien, Portugal und Canarische Inseln, Azoren. » – H. C. Weinkauff: Die Conchylien des Mittelymeeres, Bd.1, Cassel 1867.

5-6m deep, Vouliagmeni marine lake, west of Perachora, Loutraki area, N. Korinthia, Greece. 78-80mm.

Weinkauff: « The colour is quite variable and ranges from chestnut brown to pale whitish with all kinds of intergrades, and goes to even white specimens, and more or less pure pink ones. » – 12m, in sand, Málaga, Andalucia, S. Spain. 73mm.

Umbonal areas often show pretty patterns.
Beachstormed juvenile, near the entrance of Ayrolles lagoon, Gruissan, Occitania, S. France. 18mm.

Málaga bay, 10m deep, on sand. 64mm.

8m deep, on sand and fine gravel, at foot of rocky shore, southern edge of Spinalonga main island, east of channel, Elounda, NW. of Kolpos Mirabellou, Lasithi, N. Crete. 35-35mm.

Giant specimens from sand banks, south of Gruissan, Occitania. 88-93mm. Colour darker than average.

Venus chione used as an example in the descriptive plate of bivalve’s morphology, in H.-M. D. de Blainville: Manuel de malacologie et de conchyliologie, Paris 1825-1827.

12m deep, on sand, Taghazout, Agadir, Souss-Massa-Drâa, W. Morocco. 61mm.

Specimen from NE. Atlantic.
At extreme low tide in sand, Plage des Grands Sables, Île de Groix, S. Brittany, NW. France. 62mm.

Cytherea chione in Forbes & Hanley: A history of British Mollusca and their shells, vol. 1, London 1853, via BHL.

Venus chione in G. S. Poli: Testacea utriusque siciliae…, vol. 2, Parma 1795 and plate XX, vol. 4 (1791-1796), via BHL.

« The Fig. 1 represents this shell of mediocre size, with the fringe of the pallium of the animal, with the foot, and with the siphons somewhat stretched outside. […] Fig. 2. The shell only, open to make visible the hinge, and the prints left by the adductor muscles of the valves. […] Fig. 3. The animal extracted unharmed from its shell, and extended, presented face on. […] Fig. 6. The same unharmed animal, represented from the backside. […] Fig. 4. Preparation of the same animal seen from the side, with the vessels tinted by mercury. […] Fig. 7. Represented in this figure, the dissected ventricle, to make visible the pylorus, the cavities of the biliary ducts, the esophagus, the mouth. […] Fig. 10 represents the notably enlarged and desiccated heart […] Fig. 11. A small group of follicles, whose the liver is composed… »

The hinge in a specimen from Gruissan.