(Fleriau de Bellevue, 1802)
Description (shell):
Shell brittle, roughly oblong, umbones anterior to midline and incurved. Posterior hinge line straight, posterior margin truncate; anterior hinge line continuous with regularly convex anterior margin. Sculpture of closely spaced, small corrugated ridges and grooves, most pronounced close to posterior margin, often worn about umbones; fine radiating striations also present. Lunule and escutcheon shallow, indistinct. Three cardinal teeth in each valve, centre one in left, and centre and posterior in right, bifid. Adductor scars and pallial line distinct; pallial sinus deep, U-shaped, extending well beyond midline of shell, to a point below the anterior half of the ligament. Lower limb of pallial sinus posteriorly confluent with the pallial line.
Size:
Up to 40 mm long.
Colour:
Off-white, cream, or light brown. Inner surface white or orange, often tinted blue posteriorly.
Habitat:
Intertidal. Attached by a byssus, in holes and crevices in soft rocks, including those bored by other molluscs.
Distribution:
Of limited distribution in the North Sea (Distr. V. saxatilis). Ranges south to north-west Africa.