Arctica islandica

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Ocean quahog
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Bivalvia Order: Veneroida Family: Arcticidae Genus: Arctica Species: A. islandica
Binomial name
Arctica islandica Linnaeus, 1767

Arctica islandica, commonly known as the ocean quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk native to the North Atlantic ocean, which is exploited commercially. This species is also known by a number of different common names, including Icelandic cyprine,^[1] mahogany clam, mahogany quahog, black quahog, and black clam.^[2]

The typical arctica islandica resembles the quahog, but the shell of the ocean quahog is rounder, the periostracum is usually black, and on the interior of the shell, the palial line has no indentation, or sinus. Unlike the quahog, which lives intertidally and can be collected by clam digging, this species lives subtidally, and can only be collected by dredging.

Contents 1 Human use 2 Longevity 3 See also 4 Notes 5 Literature 6 External links

[edit] Human use

These "arctic clams" are prized for sushi (arranged food). Blanched and halved along the flat side they are common for topping Nigiri sushi. The shape of the flesh of the foot of the clam somewhat resembles the claw of a crab. It is coloured creamy yellow at its base graduating to a deep red at the tip. This is most likely the reason for its moniker "mothers tongue".

[edit] Longevity

In October 2007, researchers from Bangor University in North Wales determined that an ocean quahog clam dredged off the Icelandic coast was between 405 and 410 years old by drilling through and counting rings on its shell (a technique known as sclerochronology). This made it the longest-lived solitary animal on record which forms accretionary skeletons.

The clam was nicknamed "Ming" after the Chinese dynasty that ruled when the clam settled (the mollusc equivalent of being born).^[3][4] The researchers are uncertain how long the clam, which died during the assessment process,^[5] might have lived had it been left on the ocean floor.^[6]

Help the Aged, a UK-based charity, has contributed £40,000 towards studying quahog longevity.^[7]

Previously, an international research team lead by a German researcher presented a 374-year-old specimen of the ocean quahog collected from offshore of Iceland (Schöne et al., 2005).

[edit] See also

• List of long-living organisms
• Maximum life span

[edit] Notes

[edit] Literature

• B. R. Schöne, J. Fiebig, M. Pfeiffer, R. Gleß, J. Hickson, A. L. A. Johnson, W. Dreyer und W. Oschmann: Climate records from a bivalved Methuselah (Arctica islandica, Mollusca; Iceland). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 228, 2005, pp. 130– 148.

[edit] External links

• Ocean quahog, Arctica islandica, Life history and habitat from the NOAA.
• Climate records from a bivalved Methuselah

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