Species and Habitat Outlines

Manila Clam
TAXONOMY

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

 

ECOLOGICAL DATA

Distribution: exotic species; common in protected beaches in bays and estuaries in Georgia Strait and west coast of Vancouver Island; small isolated populations in Queen Charlotte Strait and around Bella Bella.

Habitat: sand-gravel beaches; burrow just below surface, to maximum depth of approximately 10 cm; planktonic larvae dispersed by currents; adults remain in same location for life.

Tidal elevation: from 1 m intertidal zone to well above mid-intertidal level; does not inhabit subtidal; limited spatial competition with native clams.

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

Predators: mainly water birds due to higher intertidal colonization.

GROWTH RATE

Slow; sexually mature at 20 mm (about 2 yr.); legal size of 38 mm is reached in 3.5 yr in Strait of Georgia and 5-6 yr in north coast.

FISHERY

Commercial, Native and sport fisheries; accounts for more than 65% (1894 t in 1986) of commercial intertidal clam harvest; sewage 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: 56.

Bourne, N. 1982. Distribution, reproduction and growth of Manila clam, Tapes philippinarum (Adams and Reeves), in British Columbia. J. Shellfish Res. 2: 47-54.

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.

Holland, D.A., and K.K. Chew. 1974. Reproductive cycle of the Manaila clam (Venerupis japonica), from Hood Canal, Washington. Proc. Natl. Shellfish. Assoc. 64: 53-58.

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.

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.

 

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