Angel Wing Shell of the Pholadidae Family

One Angle Wing Shell of the Pholadidae Family can be found in this website:

Pacific Coast Angel Wing Shell, Pholas chiloensis. A representative of the Pholadidae Family of Angel Wing Shells.

The Pholadidae Family (Lamarck, 1809) are bivalve mollusks of Angel Wings and Piddock Shells which has twenty-three genena and one hundred forty-one species and that have been placed in four subfamilies (the Jouannetiinae that has two genera and twelve species, the Martesiinae that has eight genera and thirty-seven species, the Pholadinae that has six genera and thirty species, and the Xylophagaidae that has seven genera and sixty-two species).

The Pholadidae Shells are equivalve, slightly inflated, fragile, and thin that are composed of aragonite and may have an elongated, globular oval or quadrate profile. They have exterior sculpting that varies between species and by section of an individual. They are divided into two or three sections by different texture. The sculpting includes reticulated (net-like) spiny, and imbricated (overlapping plates) concentric ridges. This sculpting allows the shells to mechanically abrade the substrate in which they reside. The living animals in most family members do not fit within the shell and it burrows into clay, coral, mud, rock, shale, shells and wood for protection. The hinge, which lacks teeth, muscular attachments, and other aspects of the shell are modified to allow it to move in a circular, rasping motion to facilitate burrowing. The Angel Wings are white to brownish in color and some are bio-luminescent. Angel Wing Shells can reach a maximum of 18 cm (7.1 inches) in length and 4.7 cm (1.8 inches) in height.

Angel Wing Shells are found intertidally to depths up to 300 m (984 feet) but the majority are found in water that is less than 100 m (328 feet) deep. They spend their entire adult life within their burrow which may be up to one meter in length. They utilize their extended siphon to feed on suspended plankton and other organic matter. In turn they are preyed upon by crabs and gastropods. There are twenty-four members of the Pholadidae Family that are found globally in temperate and tropical seas. Eight of these species are found along Mexico’s west coast.