Evolution on the Half Shell...

The Assembling the Tree of Life: Bivalvia project (BivAToL) is a part of the Assembling the Tree of Life initiative, a large research effort sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Its goal is to reconstruct the evolutionary origins of all living things.

Jetsam & Flotsam

Back to Florida...

In November 2009, the three BivAToL PIs (Paula Mikkelsen, Rüdiger Bieler, Gonzalo Giribet) plus the three new postdocs (Sid Staubach, Ilya Temkin, Stephanie Clark) spent a week in Florida to collect additional bivalve target species.

Following Ft. Pierce, the three PIs spent an additional few days in the subtropical Lower Florida Keys to scuba dive on the reef and sample the shallow waters of Florida Bay. More...

 
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Barbatia cancellaria photo

Red-brown Ark

Barbatia cancellaria (Lamarck, 1819)

Family Arcidae (Ark Clams)

The Red-brown Ark attaches to hard surfaces in shallow water, such as at the base of sea fans or under rocks, using a strong byssus produced by the foot. This is one of the most common species in the Florida Keys, and ranges from North Carolina to Brazil. Its hairy periostracum (the outer organic layer on the shell) is thick and fibrous, with extensions that often project beyond the shell margins. Ark Clams are well-known for their taxodont dentition — many small hinge teeth along a linear hinge plate along one inner edge of the shell — firmly aligning the shells together when they close. Hemoglobin is present in their blood in red blood cells unknown elsewhere in Mollusca. Arks are identifiable in the fossil record back to the Jurassic Period (200-150 million years ago). Some species are raised in aquaculture for human consumption in Asia .

From “Seashells of Southern Florida: Bivalves,” Princeton University Press