Arctica islandica

The ocean quahog is a species of edible clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Arcticidae. This species is native to the North Atlantic Ocean, and it is harvested commercially as a food source. This species is also known by a number of different common names, including Icelandic cyprine, mahogany clam, mahogany quahog, black quahog, and black clam.

Arctica islandica

Hans Hillewaert · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ArcticaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Venerida
Life habit
infaunalPBDB, for Venerida
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB, for Venerida
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 2 of 69 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 4 of 69 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 33 of 69 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 29 of 69 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–12 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 7 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 10 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 13 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 10 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 8 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 15 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

69 occurrences of Arctica islandica on record, most of them in the Pliocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

69 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

18 formations

Lillo — 51.25°N, 4.28°ELecze — 54.23°N, 19.46°ELecze — 54.27°N, 19.48°ELecze — 54.18°N, 19.45°ERed Crag — 51.97°N, 1.35°ERed Crag — 52.75°N, 1.53°EWeybourne Crag — 52.90°N, 1.37°EKadyny — 54.28°N, 19.49°EKadyny — 54.23°N, 19.46°EUpper Bhuban — 22.88°N, 92.73°EUpper Bhuban — 23.00°N, 93.00°EKattendijk — 51.25°N, 4.28°ECoralline Crag — 52.07°N, 1.35°ECoralline Crag — 52.03°N, 1.38°EUpper Cyrena — 47.50°N, 19.08°EVistula — 53.94°N, 19.33°EKap Kobenhavn — 82.47°N, 21.00°WTielrode — 51.12°N, 4.18°EHolderness — 54.10°N, 0.21°WChillesford Clay — 52.58°N, 1.38°EOosterhout — 51.70°N, 5.73°EBerchem — 51.29°N, 4.27°EWexford Gravels — 52.43°N, 6.33°WSabbie di nugola Vecchia — 43.56°N, 10.53°E

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The named rock units Arctica islandica has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 36 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Arctica islandica and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Arctica islandica and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

911 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 41 sites for Arctica islandica, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

23 references

Each of the 69 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 11 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Arctica islandica

Credit
Hans Hillewaert
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Arctica islandica · FMNH:Invertebrate Zoology:59436

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itArctica through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1767)