bivalve

—bivalvular /buy val"vyeuh leuhr/, adj.

/buy"valv'/, n.

1. Also called lamellibranch. Zool. any mollusk, as the oyster, clam, scallop, or mussel, of the class Bivalvia, having two shells hinged together, a soft body, and lamellate gills.

adj.

2. Bot. having two valves, as a seedcase.

3. Zool. having two shells, usually united by a hinge.

4. having two similar parts hinged together.

[1670-80; BI-¹ + VALVE]

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Any member of the mollusk class Bivalvia, or Pelecypoda, characterized by having a two-halved (valved) shell.

Clams, cockles, mussels, oysters, scallops, and shipworms are bivalves. Most are completely enclosed by the shell, the two valves of which are joined by an elastic ligament, and by two sheets of tissue called the mantle. Bivalves have no head. They feed on phytoplankton by pumping water across the gills and trapping food particles that are then moved to the mouth. Bivalves are found in most parts of the ocean from the intertidal zone to abyssal depths.

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▪ class of mollusks

Introduction

      any of more than 15,000 species of clams (clam), oysters (oyster), mussels (mussel), scallops (scallop), and other members of the phylum Mollusca characterized by a shell that is divided from front to back into left and right valves. The valves are connected to one another at a hinge. Primitive bivalves ingest sediment; however, in most species the respiratory gills have become modified into organs of filtration called ctenidia. In keeping with a largely sedentary and deposit-feeding or suspension-feeding lifestyle, bivalves have lost the head and the radular rasping organ typical of most mollusks.

General features

Size range and diversity of structure

      Bivalves range in size from about one millimetre (0.04 inch) in length to the giant clam of South Pacific coral reefs, Tridacna gigas, which may be more than 137 centimetres (54 inches) in length and weigh 264 kilograms (582 pounds). Such an animal may have a life span of about 40 years.

      The shell morphology and hinge structure are used in classification. In most surface-burrowing species (the hypothetical ancestral habit) the shells are small, spherical or oval, with equal left and right valves. In deeper-burrowing species the shells are laterally compressed, permitting more rapid movement through the sediments. The shells of the most efficient burrowers, the razor clams Ensis and Solen, are laterally compressed, smooth, and elongated. Surface-burrowing species may have an external shell sculpture of radial ribs and concentric lines, with projections that strengthen the shell against predators and damage.

      A triangular form, ventral flattening, and secure attachment to firm substrates by byssal threads (byssus; proteinaceous threads secreted by a gland on the foot) have allowed certain bivalves to colonize hard surfaces on wave-swept shores. The byssus is a larval feature that is retained by adults of some bivalve groups, such as the true mussels (family Mytilidae) of marine and estuarine shores and the family Dreissenidae of fresh and estuarine waters. Such a shell form and habit evolved first within sediments (endobyssate), where the byssus serves for anchorage and protection when formed into an enclosing nest. Other bivalves have used the byssus to attach securely within crevices and thus to assume a laterally flattened, circular shape. The best example of this is the windowpane shell Placuna. This form has allowed the close attachment of one valve to a hard surface, and although some groups still retain byssal attachment (family Anomiidae (jingle shell)), others have forsaken this for cementation, as in the true oysters (family Ostreidae), where the left valve is cemented to estuarine hard surfaces. Some scallops (family Pectinidae) are also cemented, but others lie on soft sediments in coastal waters and at abyssal depths. By limiting shell thickness (which reduces weight), smoothing the shell contours (which reduces drag), and assuming an aerofoil-like leading edge, such scallops can awkwardly swim several metres at a time.

      In other species, such as the clams, the foot has become modified for rapid and effective digging, and the folds of the mantle tissue have developed into long siphons. Both these features allow the animals to burrow deeply within sand, mud, and other substrates (even into wood and rock). They are protected from predators within such substrata but are still able to feed and breathe using their long siphons.

      Bivalve shell and body form is thus intimately related to habitat and the relative degree of exposure to predation. From the simple burrowing, equivalve ancestor, the various bivalve groups have repeatedly evolved an elongated, triangular or circular shell; thus, similar body adaptations have been responses to similar modes of life.

Distribution and abundance

      Most bivalves are marine and occur at all depths in or upon virtually all substrates. In shallow seas, bivalves are often dominant on rocky and sandy coasts and are also important in offshore sediments. They occur at abyssal and hadal depths, either burrowing or surface-dwelling, and are important elements of the midoceanic rift fauna. In addition, bivalves bore into soft shales and compacted muds but may be important also in the bioerosion of corals. Bivalves thus occur at all latitudes and depths, although none are planktonic. There are also estuarine bivalves, and two important families, the Unionidae and Corbiculidae, are predominantly freshwater with complicated reproductive cycles. There are no terrestrial bivalves, although some high-intertidal and freshwater species can withstand drought conditions.

      To be expected within a class comprising more than 15,000 living species, abundance varies considerably. Commensal and parasitic species are small, often highly host-specific, and comprise some of the rarest animals. Others, such as cockles (cockle) and clams on soft shores and mussels and oysters on rocky coasts, can occur in densities high enough that they dominate entire habitats and assume important roles in nutrient cycles.

Importance

      The total marine catch (commercial fishing) of mollusks is twice that of crustaceans, and the great majority of this is bivalve. Some three million metric tons (6,615,000,000 pounds) of bivalves are harvested throughout the world each year. Virtually all bivalves, with the possible exception of the thorny oyster Spondylus, are edible and fall into the main categories of oysters, mussels, scallops, and clams. A number of species are raised commercially.

      The most important edible oysters are representatives of the genus Crassostrea, notably C. gigas in the western Pacific, C. virginica in North America, and C. angulata in Portugal. Most mussels are cultivated on ropes suspended from floats. The European mussel Mytilus edulis has been introduced into the northern Pacific, and the practice now flourishes widely in Japan and China. Most scallops, Pecten, Placopecten, and Amusium, are caught by offshore trawlers, although cultivation is being attempted. A wide variety of clams are cultivated—e.g., Mya arenaria and Mercenaria mercenaria in the North Atlantic and Venerupis japonica and Tapes philippinarum in the Pacific. In some parts of the world, red tides (red tide), caused by large numbers of toxic protozoan dinoflagellates (dinoflagellate), are lethal to fish and certain invertebrates. Bivalves, by virtue of their filter-feeding apparatus, concentrate the toxin and, if eaten by humans, can cause paralysis or death.

      Bivalves of the genera Pinctada and Pteria have been collected in many tropical seas for the natural pearls (pearl) they may contain, although in many countries, most notably Japan, pearl oyster fisheries have been developed. The windowpane oyster, Placuna placenta, has flat translucent valves that are used, primarily in the Philippines, in the manufacture of lampshades, trays, mats, and bowls, collectively called tapis. In developing countries, many kinds of bivalve shells are used in the manufacture of jewelry and ornaments.

      Bivalves are important agents in bioerosion (weathering), most notably of calcium carbonate rocks and wood in the sea. Piddocks (piddock) (family Pholadidae) bore into concrete jetties (particularly where the source of obtained lime is coral), timber, and plastics. Shipworms (family Teredinidae) bore softer woods. Date mussels (Lithophaga) bore into rocks and corals. Marine mussels (family Mytilidae) foul ships, buoys, and wharves; they may also block seawater intakes into the cooling systems of power stations. The freshwater zebra mussel (family Dreissenidae) feeds on phytoplankton and proliferates rapidly, clogging water-intake pipes and damaging boats and bridges. A problem in Europe from the 19th century, the zebra mussel arrived in North America, probably in the ballast water of ships, in 1986. It upset the food web of the Great Lakes and threatened many native bivalve species with extinction. Causing millions of dollars in economic losses each year, zebra mussels clog the water intake systems of power plants and industrial cooling systems.

      Few bivalves are host to human parasitic infections. Industrial and agricultural effluents—notably trace metals, chlorophenothane (DDT), and chlorinated hydrocarbons—have contaminated bivalves, with subsequent concern over human health.

Natural history

Reproduction and life cycles

      Although most bivalve species are gonochoristic (that is, they are separated into either male or female members) and some species are hermaphroditic (they produce both sperm and eggs), sexual dimorphism is rare. In gonochoristic species there is usually an equal division of the sexes. Simultaneous hermaphroditism occurs when sperm-producing tubules and egg-producing follicles intermingle in the gonads (as in the family Tridacnidae), or the gonads may be developed into a separate ovary and testis, as in all representatives of the subclass Anomalodesmata. In consecutive hermaphroditism, one sex develops first. Typically, this is the male phase (protandry), but in a few cases it is the female (protogyny). This is most clearly seen in the wood-boring family Teredinidae (shipworm), where young males become females as they age. Rhythmical consecutive hermaphroditism is best known in the European oyster, Ostrea edulis, in which each individual undergoes periodic changes of sex. Alternative hermaphroditism is characteristic of oysters of the genus Crassostrea, in which most young individuals are male. Later the sex ratio becomes about equal, and finally most older individuals become female.

      Bivalve sperm have two flagellae. Most eggs are small, and synchronized spawning results in the discharge of both types of gametes into the sea for external fertilization. Hermaphrodites usually bring in sperm from another individual through the incurrent siphon. The embryos are then brooded, and brooding typically occurs within the ctenidia. There the fertilized eggs, well endowed with yolk, develop directly (without a larval stage), and the young are released as miniature adults. Although ctenidial incubation is most common, there are other patterns: egg capsules are produced by Turtonia minuta; a brood chamber is plastered to the shell of the palaeotaxodont Nucula delphinodonta; and in members of the Carditidae the female shell is modified into a brood pouch.

      For most marine species, however, the fertilized egg undergoes indirect development first into a swimming trochophore larva and then into a shelled veliger larva. The veliger has a ciliated velum for swimming and also for trapping minute particles of food. Following a period in the plankton, which varies from hours in some species to months in others, the veliger descends to the seafloor, where it metamorphoses into the adult form: the velum is lost, the foot develops and usually secretes one or two byssal threads for secure attachment, and the ctenidia develop.

      In the freshwater Unionidae the released larva, called a glochidium, often has sharp spines projecting inward from each valve. The larva attaches to either the gills or fins of passing fish and becomes a temporary parasite. Eventually, it leaves the fish, falls to the lake floor, and metamorphoses into an adult.

Ecology and habitats

      The division and lateral compression of the shell into two valves is clearly related to the adoption of a burrowing mode of life, which is achieved by a muscular foot. Primitive forms were detritivorous, whereas modern bivalves are suspension feeders that collect food particles from seawater using ciliated ctenidia (modified gills). The burrowing, filter-feeding (filter feeding) mode of life restricts bivalves to aquatic environments.

      Retention of the larval anchoring byssus into adult life has freed many bivalves from soft substrates, allowing them to colonize hard surfaces. This has also been achieved by cementation, as, for example, in oysters.

      There are no pelagic bivalves, except for Planktomya hensoni, which is still benthic as an adult but has an unusually long planktonic larval stage. Some bivalves can swim, albeit weakly, when removed from the sediment, as can some file shells. True swimming is, however, seen only in the family Pectinidae (scallops) but is used mostly as an escape reaction.

      Many representatives of the superfamily Galeommatoidea are commensal, a few are parasitic, and both have thus become miniaturized. Most bivalves are found in coastal seas, but their diversity is greatest on continental landmasses, where large rivers create suitable deltaic habitats and the continental shelf is broad. Except on tropical ones with coral reefs, few bivalves are found on islands.

      Of the various subclasses, two are most important ecologically: the Heterodonta are modern burrowers that include cockles, clams, shipworms, and giant clams and feed primarily on suspended material. In contrast, the Pteriomorphia, an older group that is epibyssate (that is, anchored to rocks) dominates hard substrates. The subclass is made up of oysters, mussels, jingle shells, and others. Some of their older representatives are endobyssate (that is, anchored to material within a burrow or dugout), exposing their evolutionary history. Most of these two classes occupy a wide diversity of subhabitats, with simple reproductive strategies, external fertilization, and planktonic larvae to effect wide dispersion. They apportion the shallow-water marine domain virtually everywhere. The Palaeoheterodonta (a group that includes the unionids) are exclusively freshwater species, but all have significantly more complicated life cycles.

      The Palaeotaxodonta (or Protobranchia) are coastal and deepwater detrivores, always infaunal. They share this diversity of habitat with the Anomalodesmata, which have radiated along two lines: shallow-water species that are highly specialized, are hermaphroditic, occupy narrow niches, and have a short planktonic stage and deep-sea species that are even more specialized, most being predators.

      Most bivalves are primary consumers, typically exploiting organic material. The two dominant bivalve subclasses are high in the diet of many predators. Some 60 million years ago great adaptive radiation, notably in the Bivalvia, took place with a similar radiation in predatory crustaceans, starfishes, and snails. It is thought that such predation pressure effectively drove the Bivalvia underground with the resultant evolution of many antipredation devices on the shell—spines, ridges, and teeth—or of the habit of burrowing to great depths. On coral reefs a similar pressure led to deep boring into the fabric of the coral and the evolution of a host–borer intimacy.

Locomotion

      Unlike in other molluscan groups, locomotion in bivalves is used only when dislodgement occurs or as a means to escape predation.

      The bivalve foot, unlike that of gastropods, does not have a flat creeping sole but is bladelike (laterally compressed) and pointed for digging. The muscles mainly responsible for movement of the foot are the anterior and posterior pedal retractors. They retract the foot and effect back-and-forth movements. The foot is extended as blood is pumped into it, and it is prevented from overinflating by concentric rings of circular, oblique, and longitudinal muscle fibres, which also help to direct pedal extension and permit fine mobility.

      During burrowing, the foot is greatly extended anteriorly from between parted shell valves. Taking a grip on the substratum, typically by dilation of the tip, the pedal retractors pull the shell downward. This is accompanied by sharp closure of the shell valves, forcing water out of the mantle cavity into the burrow, helping to fluidize the sediment, and making movement through it more efficient. So effective is this mechanism that fast burrowers, when removed from the sediment, can swim short distances.

Food and feeding

      The primitive bivalve was almost certainly a detritivore (consumer of loose organic materials), and the modern palaeotaxodonts still pursue this mode of life. The posterior leaflike gills serve principally for respiration; feeding is carried out by the palp proboscides, which collect surface detritus.

      The vast majority of other bivalves feed on the plant detritus, bacteria, and algae that characterize the sediment surface or cloud coastal and fresh waters. The gills (gill) have gradually become adapted as filtering devices called ctenidia. The primitive posterior respiratory gills have enlarged and moved to lie lateral to the body as paired folds, or demibranchs. Further increases in surface area have been achieved by folding the platelike gill lamellae into plicae. Each lamella comprises vertical rows of filaments upon the outer head of which are complex arrays of cilia that create a flow of water through the gill, form a filtration barrier, and transport retained particles to food grooves in the dorsal axes or ventral margins of the ctenidia. Bound in mucus, the food is transported to the mouth via the labial palps, where further selection occurs (see below Internal features (bivalve)).

      Two groups of bivalves have exploited other food sources. These are the shipworms (shipworm) (family Teredinidae) and giant clams (family Tridacnidae). Shipworms are wood borers and are both protected and nourished by the wood they inhabit. They possess ctenidia and are capable of filtering food from the sea. When elongating the burrow, they digest the wood as well. In the Tridacnidae, symbiotic (symbiosis) zooxanthellae (zooxanthella) (minute algal cells) are contained within the mantle tissue. The relationship between clam and algae is probably mutually beneficial, the algae having access to the dissolved waste products of the clam and the clam benefiting from the nutritional value of either culled zooxanthellae or their metabolic products.

      A few bivalves are parasitic (parasitism)—e.g., species of Entovalva, which live either in the esophagus or upon the body of sea cucumbers (Holothuroidea), and the larvae (glochidia) of freshwater Unionidae, which parasitize fish.

      The most exotic adaptations of the basic bivalve feeding plan are found in two groups of deepwater bivalves. These are scallops of the genus Propeamussium and the various deepwater families of the Anomalodesmata. In Propeamussium what appear to be typical ctenidia are present in the mantle cavity, but on closer examination these prove to be wholly atypical in that the filament heads are internal. The ctenidia are incapable of filtering. The gut is minute, and detected prey is sucked into the mantle cavity by an inrush of water when the valves open. The food is then pushed into the mouth with the foot.

      Many deepwater Anomalodesmata have modified the typical bivalve ctenidium into a septum—the “septibranch” ctenidium—that creates pressure changes within the mantle cavity and produces sudden inrushes of water, carrying prey into a funnellike inhalant siphon (Cuspidaria). Food is then pushed into the mouth by the palps and foot. Others evert the inhalant siphon, like a hood, over the prey (Poromya and Lyonsiella). Prey items include small bottom-dwelling crustaceans, polychaete worms, and larvae of other benthic animals.

Associations

      The greatest affinity of bivalves is with coral reefs (coral reef). Indo-Pacific, but not Caribbean, reefs are the habitat of giant clams, Tridacna. Dead corals are bored by representatives of the Gastrochaenidae, living corals by species of Lithophaga. A greater degree of intimacy between living coral and bivalve borer is now known, some species associating with a single coral.

      Similarly with wood borers: piddocks (Pholadidae) are more common in hardwoods, while shipworms (Teredinidae) favour softwoods. In the degradation of wood in the sea, a variety of species may colonize it with time and with depth.

      One group of bivalves, the superfamily Galeommatoidea, form highly intimate relationships with other marine invertebrates, particularly on soft shores and coral reefs. Typically less than 10 millimetres (0.4 inch) long, most are commensal (commensalism); i.e., they form an association in which there is no detriment to the host and exploit it for protection, food, and respiratory currents. On soft shores they share the burrows of polychaete worms and crustaceans, sometimes attaching to the body of the host.

Form and function

General features

      The bivalve body comprises a dorsal visceral mass and a ventral foot, which is enclosed within a thin mantle, or pallium. The mantle secretes from its outer surface a shell divided into left and right valves. Between the body and mantle is the mantle cavity, within which hang the left and right gills, or ctenidia. The ctenidia are divided into two demibranchs, inner and outer, each in turn comprising inner and outer lamellae. Anteriorly, the ctenidia unite with paired (left and right) labial palps, which are food-sorting organs. The mantle margin can be fused at various places leaving medial apertures anteriorly for the extension and retraction of the locomotory foot and, in most bivalves, posteriorly to create inhalant and exhalant apertures that may be formed into siphons of variable length according to habitat. Foot and siphons can be withdrawn between the shell valves into the mantle cavity for protection.

External features

      The bivalves occupy a wide variety of habitats and, as a consequence, deviate widely from the basic body plan. The shell form is an obvious adaptation to the environment. Shells of many modern burrowers are ornamented and coloured, and those of near-surface-dwelling cockles are thick and radially ribbed. These adaptations stabilize the animal in the substrate and may confer some degree of protection against predators. Such bivalves are slow burrowers. In contrast, the shells of deep-burrowing species are thin and nonornamented. They are often brightly coloured, as in the Tellinidae. The shell is laterally compressed and thus more bladelike, but the adductor muscles (adductor muscle) are still of similar size (the isomyarian form). Such structural features adapt the animal for rapid movement through the sand; long siphons project to the surface above. Deep burrowing has been achieved by a different mechanism in the razor shells (razor clam) (e.g., the family Solenidae), where the anterior region of the shell is reduced and the posterior enormously elongate. Because of their short siphons, Ensis and Solen live close to the sediment surface, but, with the lateral compression of their polished shells, they are among the most proficient burrowers. Other bivalves—e.g., Mya (family Myidae)—live at great depths but do not burrow rapidly. The shell is largely unornamented and wider to accommodate the greatly elongated siphons, which can be retracted deeply within its borders.

      Rock and wood boring are also specialized consequences of burrowing—the evolution of borers proceeded from the habitation of stiff muds or from nestling within crevices. Mechanical borers tunnel anterior end first; that face of the shell having a sculpture of spines. Borers derived from a nestling epibyssate ancestor are chemical borers that produce a calcium carbonate chelating secretion from the mantle margin. In such cases the shell is typically smooth, although calcareous encrustations on the posterior shell protect the borer from aperture-attacking predators. Reduction of the anterior adductor (the anisomyarian form) creates a triangular-shaped shell, as in the buried fan shell Pinna (Pinnidae) and the mussels (Mytilidae) of rocky coasts. Although such bivalves lack ornamentation, the shell is typically thick and dark.

      Loss of the anterior adductor creates a shell with a circular outline, left and right valves being either equal or unequal. In some, lateral flattening and byssal attachment allows occupation of narrow crevices. Cementation by either valve is a further consequence of the loss of the anterior adductor muscle (the monomyarian form). Subsequent freedom from attachment, as in the scallops (Pectinidae), is associated with an almost circular outline, flat upper and cup-shaped lower valves, a deep radial sculpture, and, typically, bright coloration (Pecten).

Internal features

      The general classification of the bivalves is typically based on shell structure and hinge and ligament organization. The internal anatomy is also a tool in classification, particularly the organs of the mantle cavity, the pattern of water movement through it, and the structure and functioning of the ctenidia and labial palps. Early anatomists established a correlation between shell and gill structure that is still often used as a basis for classification but which is now relegated to defining the evolutionary sequence from a deposit-feeding to a filter-feeding mode of life.

      Nucula, from the subclass Protobranchia, reflects the primitive bivalve ancestor. Burrowing close to the sediment surface, Nucula is equivalve, anteriorly and posteriorly symmetrical, and isomyarian. The medial foot is wide. There are no mantle fusions ventrally, and the aerating water current passes through the mantle cavity from front to back, a feature not typical of most modern bivalves. The structure of the small gills (gill), located posteriorly, is interpreted as being similar to the earliest mollusks—hence the name protobranch, or “first gills.” The paired gills, separated by a central axis, are suspended from the mantle roof. Individual short gill filaments extend outward from either side of the axis, and cilia on their surfaces create an upward respiratory water current that passes from the mantle cavity below the gill (the infrabranchial, or inhalant, chamber) to that area above it (the suprabranchial, or exhalant, chamber). The anus and the urogenital pores also open into the exhalant chamber so that all waste products exit the animal in the exhalant stream. The paired labial palps in the mantle cavity are used in feeding. The outer palp on each side bears a long, extensible proboscis with a ciliated groove that collects organic material, which is then sorted by the inner pair and outer pair of palps. Certain particles are transferred to the mouth by the ciliary currents of the inner pair of palps, while the remaining particles are sent by the outer palps into the mantle cavity as a mucus-bound mass known as pseudofeces, which are ejected by periodic contractions of the adductor muscles.

      An important event in the evolution of the modern bivalve from the more primitive form illustrated above was the reorientation of the anterior inhalant stream to the posterior below the exhalant stream so that water both enters and exits the mantle cavity posteriorly. For burrowing bivalves, such a body organization allows deep burrowing in a vertical (head down) orientation, and thus escape from the sediment surface. These changes generally are associated with changes in the method of feeding and, as a consequence, the selective fusion of left and right mantle margins to exclude sediment from the mantle cavity.

      The burrowing Spisula illustrates these changes. It, like Nucula, is equivalve and anteriorly and posteriorly symmetrical (isomyarian). The mantle margin is fused ventrally, allowing the foot to extend through an anterior pedal gape. The posterior inhalant and exhalant orifices are formed into tentacle-fringed siphons. The gills are here positioned on either side of the visceral mass. Gill filaments are greatly elongated and folded (forming the shape of a W) to increase their surface area. The central axis of the W joins it to the body, and the outermost arms unite with the visceral body on one side and the mantle on the other. A complex arrangement of cilia on the apex of each filament constituting the gill lamellae draws a water current through the gill, which provides oxygen, but more importantly now sieves food from this current and transfers such material along tracts in the gill axes or their ventral margins (bound in mucus) toward the labial palps. The palps process this food and eliminate the pseudofeces as in Nucula.

      The modified gill is called a ctenidium, and its structure is best explained by the term lamellibranch. The lamellibranch structure may be further qualified as filibranch, pseudolamellibranch, or eulamellibranch. In filibranchs the filaments are only weakly united by cilia, and often the ctenidium retains some inherent sorting mechanism. Collection and sorting of potential food has not yet been definitively ascribed to gills and labial palps, respectively. In the pseudolamellibranch ctenidium, filaments and lamellae are more securely united, and an inherent sorting mechanism still exists in some. In many, however, the filaments are vertically aggregated into folds, or plicae, that greatly increase the total surface area. In the eulamellibranch ctenidium the filaments and lamellae are closely united, the selection function is lost, and gill structure varies widely. Most modern bivalves are suspension feeders, and particles suspended in the water column are drawn in through the incurrent siphon by the action of the gill cillia in all but a few species.

      In the deep seas, modification of the lamellibranch ctenidium has allowed the adoption of carnivory. The predatory bivalves of the subclass Anomalodesmata have an incurrent siphon that can be everted rapidly to form a capacious hood beneath which small crustaceans are trapped and brought into the mantle cavity. The eversion of the siphon is assisted by a horizontal septum across the mantle cavity, which is derived from the mantle and the greatly reduced ctenidium. This is the septibranch ctenidium.

      The release from a burrowing mode of life has been facilitated by the retention of a larval structure (the byssus) into adult life. The byssus, secreted by a gland in the foot, secures the animal to a hard surface in preparation for burrowing. Its retention and enlargement in the adult has provided a secure means of attachment to the open surfaces of rocks in the intertidal, estuarine, and fresh waters.

      In the triangular mussels (Mytilidae) of such habitats the anterior is reduced, and the body and organs of the mantle cavity are contained in the expanded posterior regions of the shell. The reduction of the anterior adductor muscle is matched by a reduction in the size of the anterior pedal retractor muscles (and enlargement of the posterior equivalents). Since such muscles are less concerned with locomotion and more with pulling the shell down against the substrate, they are more correctly redefined as byssal retractors. The ctenidia and palps fulfil the same role as they do in burrowing lamellibranch bivalves, but, because of the triangular cross section of the shell, they come to lie largely underneath the visceral mass instead of beside it.

      Further reduction of the anterior adductor, leading to its eventual loss, creates what is called the monomyarian condition. In bivalves with such a configuration, the anterior shell and mantle are confined to a small area; the foot, where present, is always greatly reduced and positioned anteriorly. The visceral mass and organs of the mantle cavity are arranged around the central posterior adductor muscle, and there is extreme reduction or loss of the anterior pedal/byssal retractor muscles. Shell valves may be so compressed that the space between them, as in Placuna, the windowpane oyster, is very narrow. Alternatively, as in oysters and scallops, one valve is cup-shaped, with the other fitting against it like a lid. In such a case, the body occupies the former valve, the left in oysters and generally the right in all others, such as the scallops. In these bivalves the bilateral symmetry of the shell and mantle is replaced by a radial symmetry from the midpoint of the hinge line. In these bivalves, too, the adductor muscle is more clearly demarcated into “quick” (striated) and “slow” (smooth) components for rapid and sustained adduction respectively. The capacity for work of the greatly enlarged quick component of the scallop muscle permits rapid adduction that facilitates swimming by directing jets of water out of the mantle cavity to each side of the hinge line characterized by shell auricles.

The shell

      The bivalve shell is made of calcium carbonate embedded in an organic matrix secreted by the mantle. The periostracum, the outermost organic layer, is secreted by the inner surface of the outer mantle fold at the mantle margin. It is a substrate upon which calcium carbonate can be deposited by the outer surface of the outer mantle fold. The number of calcareous layers in the shell (in addition to the periostracum), the composition of those layers (aragonite or aragonite and calcite), and the arrangement of these deposits (e.g., in sheets, or foliate) is characteristic for different groups of bivalves. Middorsally an elastic ligament creates the opening thrust that operates against the closing action of the adductor muscles. The ligament typically develops either externally (parivincular) or internally (alivincular) but comprises outer lamellar, and inner fibrous, layers secreted by the mantle crest. The ligament type is generally characteristic of each bivalve group. The hinge plate with ligament also possesses interlocking teeth to enforce valve alignment and locking, when closed, to prevent shear. Many variations in teeth structure occur.

The mantle and musculature

      The mantle lobes secrete the shell valves; the mantle crest secretes the ligament and hinge teeth. Growth takes place at the margins, although increases in thickness take place everywhere. The mantle is withdrawn between the shell valves by mantle retractor muscles; their point of attachment to the shell being called the pallial line.

      The musculature comprises two (dimyarian) primitively equal (isomyarian) adductor muscles; the anterior and the posterior. The anterior of these may be reduced (anisomyarian; heteromyarian) or lost (monomyarian). Only very rarely is the posterior lost and the anterior retained.

      Internal to the adductors are paired anterior and posterior pedal retractor muscles. Where the anterior adductor muscle is reduced, so are the anterior pedal retractors. In highly active burrowers, paired anterior pedal protractors and pedal elevator muscles occur—for example, the family Trigonioidea.

      In byssally attached bivalves, pedal retractors are reduced and byssal retractors serve to pull the animal down in closer opposition to the rock surface. In oysters, commensurate with the extreme reduction of the foot, pedal retractors are lost. This is also the case in swimming scallops.

The nervous system and organs of sensation

      The nervous system is simple and the head is completely absent, reflecting the sedentary habit. In primitive bivalves (e.g., Palaeotaxodonta) there are four pairs of ganglia (ganglion)—cerebral, pleural, pedal, and visceral. In all other bivalves the cerebral and pleural ganglia are fused into two cerebropleural ganglia, located above and on either side of the esophagus. The pedal ganglia are in the base of the foot, and the visceral ganglia are located under the posterior adductor muscle. Nerve fibres arising from the cerebropleural ganglia extend to the pedal and visceral ganglia. In some bivalves with long siphons, there are accessory siphonal ganglia, and in many swimming bivalves the visceral ganglia are much enlarged, presumably to coordinate complex swimming actions.

      Again reflecting the sedentary life, sensory functions are largely taken over by the posterior mantle margins and typically comprise tentacles developed from the middle mantle folds that are mechanoreceptors and chemoreceptors. Scallops (family Pectinidae) have complex eyes with a lens and retina. In other bivalves, eyes are simple ciliated cups, although some variation is possible. In the predatory deepwater septibranchs the inhalant siphon, which captures food, is surrounded by tentacles that have vibration-sensitive papillae for detecting the movements of prey.

      Situated close to the pedal ganglia but with direct connections to the cerebropleural ganglia are a pair of statocysts, which comprise a capsule of ciliated sense cells. In the lumen is either a single statolith or numerous crystalline statoconia. Their points of contact with the surrounding cilia yield information about the animal's orientation. Additionally, most bivalves with or without eyes have light-sensitive cells that respond to shadows. Below the posterior adductor muscle an osphradium has been identified in some bivalves that may monitor water flow and quality.

The digestive system and nutrition

      The bivalve digestive system comprises a complex stomach and associated structures but an otherwise simple intestine. The various types of stomach have been used to erect an alternative classification. Digestion (digestive system, invertebrate) typically takes place in two phases: extracellular in the stomach and intracellular in the digestive diverticula, opening laterally from the stomach wall. Transport of food particles is effected by cilia (cilium), creating an array of tracts and sorting areas within the stomach. The principal organ of extracellular digestion is the crystalline style. It is rotated in its sac by cilia; the head, projecting into the stomach, grinds against a part of the stomach wall lined by a chitinous gastric shield. As it rotates, it dissolves, releasing enzymes and initiating primary extracellular digestion of the mucus-bound food. Products of this process are passed in a fluid suspension into large embayments and thence into the digestive diverticula, where intracellular digestion takes place. Waste material is consolidated in the midgut and rectum and expelled as firm fecal pellets from an anus opening into the exhalant stream. Feeding and digestion are highly coordinated, typically regulated by tidal and diurnal cycles.

The excretory system

      Blood is forced through the walls of the heart into the pericardium. From there it passes into the kidneys where wastes are removed, producing urine. The paired kidneys (nephridia (nephridium)) are looped with an opening into the pericardium and another into the suprabranchial chamber. The kidneys may be united. Bivalves also possess pericardial glands lining either the auricles of the heart or the pericardium; they serve as an additional ultrafiltration device.

The respiratory system

      In the primitive bivalves the paired gills are small and located posteriorly. The gills in all other bivalves (save septibranchs, which have lost their gills) are greatly enlarged and possess a huge surface area. While the gills are thought to serve a respiratory function, respiratory demands are low in these mostly inactive animals, and, since the body and mantle are both bathed in water, respiration probably takes place across these surfaces as well. Such a mechanism has been demonstrated for a few bivalves, most notably freshwater species that are exposed to occasional drought. In such species, drying induces slight shell gaping posteriorly, the mantle margins exposing themselves to air. For most intertidal bivalves (which are alternately exposed to wetting and drying), respiration all but ceases during the drying phase.

The vascular system

      The heart, enclosed in a pericardium, comprises a medial ventricle with left and right auricles arising from it. blood oxygenated within the ctenidia flows to the auricles and from there to the ventricle, where it is pumped into anterior and posterior aortas. The blood then enters hemocoelic spaces in the mantle and visceral mass and returns to the heart via the ctenidia or the kidneys. The blood serves both to transport oxygen and metabolic products to tissues deep within the body and as a hydrostatic skeleton (for example, in the extension of the foot during locomotion and siphons during feeding). There are amoeboid corpuscles, but, except in a few bivalves, no hemoglobin or other respiratory pigment occurs.

The reproductive system

      The reproductive system is simple and comprises paired gonads. These gonads discharge into the renal duct in primitive bivalves but open by separate gonopores into the suprabranchial chamber in more modern bivalves. Typically, the sexes are separate, but various grades of hermaphroditism are not uncommon. Eggs and sperm are shed into the sea for external fertilization in most bivalves, but inhalation of sperm by a female permits a type of internal fertilization and brooding of young, usually within the ctenidia.

Features of defense and aggression

      The most significant adaptation is the earliest division of the shell into two valves within which the animal was wholly contained. Slow components of the adductor muscle permit sustained adduction, while the interlocking hinge teeth prevent shear. In addition, the shell may be strongly ridged, forming an interlocking shell margin, and it may be concentrically ringed with spines or sharp ridges projecting outward. Posterior sense organs, including photophores and eyes, are developed around the siphons and mantle margins. Detection leads to withdrawal deep into the sediment by burrowing species. In such animals the shell is smooth and compressed. Scallops respond to predation by swimming; shallow-burrowing cockles (cockle) can leap using the foot. In the razor clams the siphons can break off (autotomize (autotomy)) when bitten, to be regenerated later. Similarly, noxious secretions are produced by the similarly autotomizing long tentacles of the Limidae (file shells). The unique pallial organ of fan shells (family Pinnidae) produces a secretion of sulfuric acid when bitten.

      Only the deepwater subclass Anomalodesmata (families Verticordiidae, Poromyidae, and Cuspidariidae) and the scallops are predators (predation). Prey is captured either in the sudden rush of water into the mantle cavity or by the rapid eversion of the inhalant siphon.

Evolution and paleontology

      The oldest known bivalves are generally believed to be Fordilla troyensis, which is best preserved in the late Early Cambrian rocks of New York (about 510 million years ago), and Pojetaia runnegari from the Cambrian rocks of Australia. Fordilla is perhaps ancestral to the pteriomorph order Mytiloida, Pojetaia to the Palaeotazodonta order Nuculoida.

      By the Ordovician period (488 million to 444 million years ago) most modern subclasses were represented by definable ancestors. The oldest Ordovician bivalves are, however, the subclass Palaeotaxodonta, which are thought to have given rise to the Cryptodonta by elongation. Modern assessment of their shell structure and body form, notably with the possession of posterior protobranch gills and with palp proboscides for deposit feeding in the Palaeotaxodonta, generally supports this view. An extinct subclass Actinodontia also arose in the Ordovician period and may be represented today by the superfamily Trigonioidea (placed in the subclass Palaeoheterodonta), which are an aberrant group of the subclass Pteriomorphia. The remaining, more typical, members of the Pteriomorphia also arose at this time and persist today, still characteristically occupying a range of substrate types but with byssal attachment and a trend toward loss of the anterior adductor muscle. The common mussels (family Mytilidae) are thought to be derived from an extinct group, the family Modiomorphidae. The subclass Orthonotia also arose in the Ordovician period and are the probable ancestors of the deep-burrowing razor shells (Solenoidea). The origins of the subclass Anomalodesmata are less clear, but they too arose in the Ordovician period and may have links to the order Myoida, which presently includes deep-burrowing forms and borers. Representatives of the superfamily Lucinoidea are very different from all other bivalves, with an exhalant siphon only and an anterior inhalant stream. Some of these deposit feeders also possess, like the subclass Cryptodonta, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in the ctenidia and are thought to have ancient origins, represented by the fossil Babinka. Babinka is itself interesting and is closely related either to Fordilla, one of the oldest bivalves or to the ancestors of the molluscan class Tryblidia. Today the superfamily Lucinoidea is generally placed within the subclass Heterodonta, which is a younger group that traces back to the Paleozoic era, when the first radiation of all bivalves took place.

      The stamp of modernity was placed upon the Bivalvia in the Mesozoic era (251 million to 66 million years ago), when virtually all families currently recognized were present. Throughout time, the fortunes of the subclasses have waxed and waned, with repeated modification of form allowing repeated diversification into different habitats. Similarity of habitat is matched by similarity in structure and form, allowing for various interpretations of the fossil record. It is clear, however, that most modern bivalves can trace their ancestry back a long way and that the inherent plasticity of the bivalve form is responsible for the success of a molluscan experiment in lateral compression of the shell.

Classification

      No system of classification erected for the Bivalvia has been accepted by all. Paleontologists interpret bivalves on the basis of shell features, notably shell and ligament structure, arrangement of hinge teeth, and body form as interpreted from internal muscle scars.

      Investigators of Recent (Holocene; 10,000 years ago to the present) forms use other anatomic features, such as adductor muscle arrangement, the ctenidia and their junction with the labial palps, the extent and complexity of mantle fusion, stomach structure, and morphology of the hinge area to classify bivalves. Cluster analysis using many morphological features is effective with lower taxa but less so with higher taxonomic categories because of the many examples of parallel evolution from the basic bivalve plan. The triangular mussel form, for example, has evolved in representatives of virtually every subclass, resulting in similar morphologies. Shell microstructure and mineralogy evidence generally support paleontological conclusions that the class Bivalvia comprises six subclasses, recognizing, however, that some of these taxa may have more than one first ancestor (polyphyletic). In a group with a fossil history extending back to the Cambrian period and occupying a wide range of aquatic habitats, this is not unexpected, particularly since the basic bivalved (bivalve) form permits repeated modification.

Annotated classification

Class Bivalvia

 Laterally symmetrical; left and right calcareous shell valves; dorsal elastic hinge ligament; anterior and posterior adductor muscles; lateral paired filtering ctenidia surrounding the visceral mass; primitively burrowing by means of a muscular foot, but some crawl, some attach to rocks by byssal threads from the foot, some are cemented, and some bore into soft rocks, corals, and wood; some commensal, a few parasitic, and some deepwater species predatory; microphagous feeding; mostly marine, at all depths, also estuarine and freshwater; about 8,000 extant species.

      Subclass Palaeotaxodonta (Protobranchia)

 Numerous similar teeth along the hinge plate; isomyarian; unique shell microstructure of aragonitic composite prisms and internal nacre; posterior ctenidia comprising 2 divergent rows of flat, short, filaments; protobranch respiratory gill; food collected by labial palps; mostly near-surface-dwelling marine detritivores; considered to be the most primitive of living bivalves, if not the most ancient. About 500 living species.

      Order Nuculoida

 Equal shell valves with taxodont hinge teeth; isomyarian; posterior protobranch ctenidia; large labial palps usually with palp proboscides, which effect feeding; foot with flat sole; marine; unattached; infaunal. About 450 living species.

      Subclass Cryptodonta

 Hinge either weakly taxodont or edentulous; distinctive shell structure of aragonitic simple prisms and nacre internally; large posterior protobranch ctenidia; small labial palps; of primitive and ancient lineage; marine; unattached; infaunal.

      Order Solemyoida

 Shell valves equal and elongate, lacking hinge teeth, covered by a shiny periostracum; dimyarian or monomyarian; some with protobranch ctenidia containing symbiotic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria; minute palps; minute or absent gut; foot with flat sole; marginally papillate; marine; deep-burrowing; infaunal. About 35 species.

      Subclass Pteriomorphia

 Highly variable shell form and structure; dimyarian, anisomyarian, or monomyarian; variable hinge dentition; lateral filibranch ctenidia comprise paired demibranchs of weakly united filaments; mostly marine; some cemented; most epibyssate; some infaunal; representative of the earliest filter-feeding bivalves. About 1,500 species.

      Order Arcoida

 Shell solid, elongate or circular-oval, often heavily ribbed; fibrous periostracum with simple crossed-lamellar outer layer and inner complex crossed-lamellar layer, thereby differing from all other pteriomorphs; dimyarian; hinge with vertical denticulations; ctenidia filibranch; mantle margin with uniquely divided outer fold; foot often byssate; marine; epibyssate; infaunal. About 150 species.

      Order Trigonioida

 Shell valves equal, trigonally oval, strongly ribbed; shell with outer aragonitic prismatic layer and inner nacre layers; strong hinge teeth transversely grooved; typically isomyarian, with pedal elevator and protractor muscles as well as retractors; ctenidia filibranch, without mantle fusions; powerful foot; marine; infaunal; living species confined to Australia. 5 species.

      Order Mytiloida (common mussels)

 Shell equivalve, rounded, elongate or triangular depending on habits; anisomyarian tending toward monomyarian; hinge edentulous; shell microstructure of outer calcitic fibrous prisms and inner nacre; ctenidia filibranch; mantle margin lacking fusions; foot creeping; typically byssate; marine, estuarine, rarely freshwater; endobyssate and epibyssate. About 250 species.

      Order Pterioida (pearl oysters and fan shells)

 Shell equivalve, variably shaped; anisomyarian but often monomyarian; shell structure of outer simple calcitic prisms and inner nacre; ctenidia pseudolamellibranch, often plicate (deeply folded); mantle margin lacking fusions; foot reduced; marine; endobyssate or epibyssate. About 100 species.

      Order Limoida

 Shell equivalve, ovally elongate, ribbed, often thin and transparent, with outer foliated calcite and inner crossed-lamellar aragonitic layers; hinge short and edentulous; monomyarian; ctenidia pseudolamellibranch, encircling the adductor; palps small and lips of mouth variably fused; mantle margins unfused and often red, with long autotomizing tentacles; some swim weakly; marine; epibyssate with byssus sometimes formed into a nest. About 125 species.

      Order Ostreoida (oysters and scallops (scallop))

 Shell valves unequal, variable, typically lacking hinge teeth; shell structure of foliated calcite, upper valve with outer prismatic calcite; most scallops with inner crossed-lamellar layers; dimyarian but most monomyarian; ctenidia pseudolamellibranch; mantle fusions lacking; foot often lost in adult; scallops capable of swimming; some deepwater scallops predatory; marine; epibyssate; cemented by lower or left valve or free. About 600 species.

      Subclass Palaeoheterodonta

 Characterized by equal shell valves with a variable hinge dentition; aragonitic shell with outer prismatic and inner layers of nacre; most approximately isomyarian; ctenidia eulamellibranch; mantle fusions lacking, especially ventrally; complicated life cycles; wholly freshwater; nonbyssate; infaunal. About 1,200 species.

      Order Unionoida

 Large, equivalve, varying from round to elongate and with equally variable sculpture; shell of outer prismatic layer and inner layers of nacre; hinge schizodont; dimyarian; ctenidia eulamellibranch with either 1 or both demibranchs functioning as an incubatory marsupium; ovoviviparous; parasitically larviparous; freshwater; some cemented and oysterlike; mostly infaunal. About 1,200 species.

      Subclass Heterodonta

 Shell highly variable; hinge plate teeth may be reduced or absent; shell comprises crossed-lamellar, complex crossed-lamellar, or prismatic layers, but never nacreous; primitively isomyarian but with wide range of adductor muscle configurations; ctenidia eulamellibranch; mantle margins extensively fused, particularly posteriorly, often to form long inhalant and exhalant siphons; mostly marine but also estuarine and freshwater; some epibyssate, some bore soft rocks and wood; generally infaunal. About 4,000 species.

      Order Veneroida

 Shell typically equivalve and of outer crossed-lamellar and inner complex crossed-lamellar layers; hinge comprises radiating cardinal and lateral teeth, often weakly developed; adductor muscles of varying proportions according to habit; ctenidia eulamellibranch, mantle margins extensively fused, often developed into long siphons; most are active burrowers with a large foot; some epibyssate; mostly marine, some estuarine and freshwater; includes the poorly known miniature commensals and parasites; widely divergent, accounting for more than 30 percent of the extant bivalves. Approximately 3,000 species.

      Order Myoida

 Shell typically thin, equivalve, comprising either 2 or 3 layers; hinge plate with cardinal dentition, often degenerate; approximately isomyarian but with much variation; boring forms develop accessory shell plates; ctenidia eulamellibranch, mantle margins extensively fused and covered in periostracum; small foot; marine deep burrowers with long siphons but also rock-and wood-boring. About 400 species.

      Subclass Anomalodesmata

 Characterized by highly variable shell, either equivalve or inequivalve, often gaping either posteriorly or anteriorly; hinge plate thickened and enrolled but generally edentulous; shell of two or three layers, the inner nacreous; typically isomyarian but with wide variation; ctenidia either eulamellibranch and plicate or septibranch; mantle margins extensively fused, often covered in periostracum; foot reduced; siphons of variable length; consistently hermaphroditic; marine; mostly burrowing; some epibyssate or cemented. About 450 species.

      Order Pholadomyoida

 Shell more or less equivalve but of widely divergent form; shell comprises aragonitic prisms and nacre or homogeneous structures; typically isomyarian; ctenidia eulamellibranch and plicate but many deepwater species are septibranch; extensive mantle fusions, reduced foot and pedal gape; siphons of variable length; shallow-water forms are burrowing, nestling, epibyssate, or cemented suspension feeders; some deepwater forms are predators with exotic modifications to the bivalve plan.

Critical appraisal

      Generally, the classification scheme is accepted up to the level of family and even superfamily. The arrangement of higher categories is, however, still debated. Some authors, for example, combine the subclasses Palaeotaxodonta and Cryptodonta into a single group of primitive detrivores with protobranch gills. Differences in shell structure, however, argue against this. Similarly, the order Arcoida is separated by some from the subclass Pteriomorphia; shell structure again supports this, but other anatomic features do not. The order Trigonioida traditionally has been located within the subclass Palaeoheterodonta, but this has also been disputed, anatomic features suggesting instead an affinity with the subclass Pteriomorphia. This means that the subclass Palaeoheterodonta comprises only the order Unionoida, which has come to occupy the freshwater domain exclusively. Some authors would prefer to relocate the order Myoida from the subclass Heterodonta into the subclass Anomalodesmata, arguing that the edentulous shell, extensive mantle fusions, and deep-burrowing habit are characteristics shared with early ancestors of the order Pholadomyoida. The subclass Anomalodesmata, however, is itself possibly too narrowly demarcated, and some authorities would, for example, separate the deepwater carnivorous septibranchs from the shallow-water pholadomyoids into their own order, the Septibranchoida.

      This lack of classificatory agreement is not unusual with regard to a group that has adopted a simple sedentary, filter-feeding mode of life. Simplification and parallel evolution will lead to similarity in form, structure, and function. Debate in creating classificatory trees and reconstructing the historical record is thus about the relative significance of the fossil shell record, as there is little information on tissue morphology, and the importance of morphological data obtained from living representatives.

Brian Morton

Additional Reading

R.D. Purchon, The Biology of the Mollusca, 2nd ed. (1977), contains essays on various aspects of bivalve ecology and physiology. Raymond C. Moore (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, pt. N, Mollusca 6: Bivalvia, by L.R. Cox et al., 3 vol. (1969–71), provides a comprehensive review of bivalve structure, history, and classification. Steven M. Stanley, Relation of Shell Form to Life Habits in the Bivalvia (Mollusca) (1970), investigates the relationships between shell structure, form, habitat, and life-style. R.S. Boardman, A.H. Cheetham, and A.J. Rowell (eds.), Fossil Invertebrates (1987), is a detailed treatment of fossilized species and their probable relatives. In addition, F.W. Harrison and Alan J. Koln (eds.), Microscopic Anatomy of Invertebrates, vol. 5 (1994) and vol. 6 (1997), provides a thorough account of mollusk morphology; L.H. Hyman, The Invertebrates, vol. 6., Mollusca I (1967), is a good historical source that describes bivalve morphology and ecology; and J.H. Thorpe and A.P. Covich (eds.), Ecology and Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates, 2nd ed. (2001), summarizes current information about freshwater species.

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