Malleus (bivalve)

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Malleus
Malleus malleus (Linnaeus, 1758), museum specimens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Pteriida
Family: Malleidae
Genus: Malleus
Lamarck, 1799

Malleus is a genus of hammer oysters (marine bivalve mollusks) in the family Malleidae. This genus includes 27 known species.

Characteristic of this genus is the unusual "hammer-shaped" outline of the valves. The shells are nearly equivalved, but the hinge line is extremely long and is at nearly a right angle to the rest of the valves, which grow ventrally. The viscera of the organism are arranged in an oval-shaped patch near the umbones of the valves.[1]

Species[edit]

Gallery[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Julia Ellen Rogers (1913). The Shell Book: A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Families of Living Mollusks, and an Aid to the Identification of Shells Native and Foreign. Doubleday, Page. p. 399.