Species and Habitat Outlines

Butter Clam
TAXONOMY

Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Veneroida
Family: Veneridae

 

ECOLOGICAL DATA

Distribution: common in protected beaches in bays and estuaries along B.C. coast.

Habitat: variety of substrates but typically occur in beaches of porous sand, broken shell, gravel and mud; may occur in association with littleneck clam; burrow to a maximum depth of 25 cm; planktonic larvae are dispersed by currents; adults remain in same burrow for life.

Tidal elevation: lower third of intertidal zone; may occur to 15 m subtidal depth.

Food: suspension feeder; mainly phytoplankton, but also zooplankton and detritus.

Predators: crabs and fishes prey on juveniles; moon snail, birds and sea stars prey on adults.

GROWTH RATE

Slow; sexually mature at 38 mm (about 3 yr.); legal size of 63 mm is reached in 5-6 yr in Strait of Georgia, 7-8 yr in Alert Bay and after 9 yr in north coast.

FISHERY

Commercial, Native and sport intertidal fisheries; formerly an important commercial species but at present accounts for less than 10% (159 t in 1986) of commercial intertidal clam harvest; sewage pollution and paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) have closed large areas of coast to harvesting.

REFERENCES

Anon. (no date). Clams of British Columbia. Fish. Oceans Can., leaflet: 4 p.

Bernard, F.R. 1983. Catalogue of the living bivalvia of the eastern Pacific Ocean: Bering Strait to Cape Horn. Can. Spec. Publ. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 61: 55.

Bourne, N. 1986. Intertidal clams, p. 22-31. In G.S. Jamieson and K. Francis [ed.] Invertebrate and marine plant resources of British Columbia. Can. Spec. Publ. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 91.

Fitch, J.E. 1953. Common marine bivalves of California. Calif. Dep. Fish Game Fish Bull. 90: 102 p.

Jamieson, G.S. 1986. Paralytic shellfish poisoning, p. 44-46. In G.S. Jamieson and K. Francis [ed.] Invertebrate and marine plant resources of British Columbia. Can. Spec. Publ. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 91.

Kozloff, E.N. 1983. Seashore life of the northern Pacific coast. Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver: 292-294.

Quayle, D.B. 1978. The intertidal bivalves of British Columbia. B.C. Prov. Mus. Handb. 17: 63-64.

Quayle, D.B., and N. Bourne. 1972. The clam fisheries of British Columbia. Fish. Res. Board Can. Bull. 179: 70 p.

 

 

 

 

For more information on butter clam habitat utilization and life cycle - click here.

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