Mercenaria

Mercenaria
Hard clams Mercenaria mercenaria
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Bivalvia
Order:	Venerida
Superfamily:
Family:	Veneridae
Genus:	Mercenaria Schumacher, 1817
Species
See text

Mercenaria is a genus of edible saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Veneridae, the Venus clams.^[1]

Left valve interior of Mercenaria mercenaria

The genus Mercenaria includes the quahogs, consisting of Mercenaria mercenaria, the northern quahog or hard clam, and M. campechiensis, the . These two species commonly hybridise where their ranges overlap.

Mercenaria mercenaria is further subdivided in the marketplace and thence in the kitchen by size: the largest being the quahog or chowder clam, then smaller cherrystones, and smallest littlenecks; some markets also differentiate top necks which are intermediate in size between cherrystones and littlenecks. The smaller clams are eaten raw throughout New England, New York, and New Jersey; the larger clams are more suited for cooking.

Other species within the genus include the venus clam M. stimpsoni found in north Pacific waters. All these species were formerly placed in the related genus Venus.

Species[]

The World Register of Marine Species accepts the following extant species as valid:^[2]

• Mercenaria campechiensis (Gmelin, 1791) – Southern quahog
• Mercenaria mercenaria (Linnaeus, 1758) – Northern quahog
• Mercenaria stimpsoni (Gould, 1861) – Venus clam
• (Dall, 1902)

Fossils species[]

Several other species are known only from fossils. These mollusk lived from Oligocene to Quaternary (from 23.03 to 0.0 Ma). Fossil shells have been found in the sediments of Russia, Japan, Indonesia, United States and Brazil.

Fossil shell of , Pleistocene of United States

• † Ward 1992
• †Mercenaria campechiensis Gmelin, 1791
  • †Mercenaria campechiensis carolinensis Conrad 1875
  • †Mercenaria campechiensis rileyi Conrad 1838
  • †Mercenaria campechiensis tridacnoides Lamarck 1818
• † Conrad 1843
• † Conrad 1869
• † Ward 1992
• † Conrad 1838
• † Kellum 1926
• † Kellum 1926
• † Dall 1900
• † Gardner 1947
• † Conrad 1838
• † Conrad 1869
  • †Mercenaria plena inflata Dall 1903
  • †Mercenaria plena nucea Dall 1903
• † Gardner 1947
• † Conrad 1838

^[3]

Bibliography[]

• W. S. Arnold, T. M. Bert, D. C. Marelli, H. Cruz-Lopez, P. A. Gill Genotype-specific growth of hard clams (genus Mercenaria) in a hybrid zone: variation among habitats
• John Norman Kraeuter, Michael Castagna Biology of the Hard Clam

References[]

Wikispecies has information related to Mercenaria.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mercenaria.

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