Nuculana minuta (Müller, 1776)

minute nutclam

Description: Shell shape is short to elongate, inaequilateral, with umbones positioned to the anterior, and a pronounced and truncated rostrum to the anterior. Sculpture comprises regular and pronounced, widely spaced commarginal ribs. Hinge plate arched with two series of chevron-shaped teeth.

Size: 15-20 mm.

Ecology: Shallow infaunal deposit-feeder in soft-sediment from the nearshore to bathyal zone (4-1900 m).

Geological range: Pliocene-Recent (5-0 million years ago).

Geographic distribution: Alaska (72°N) to southern California (33°N) and northwestern Pacific (Japan and Kamchatka). Reported from the Pico Formation (Pliocene-Pleistocene, California), Lomita Marl (Pleistocene, California), San Pedro Sand (Pleistocene, California), and Timms Point Silt (Pleistocene, California).

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