Chestnut Astarte (Astarte castanea)
Common name: chestnut astarte clam
Scientific name: Astarte castanea
Locations: sub-tidal on rocky bottoms
Seasonality: available year round
Colors: dark brown and black
Size: 3/4" - 1"
Collected: by hand or dredge
Quantity: sold by the each
Common name: chestnut astarte clam
Scientific name: Astarte castanea
Locations: sub-tidal on rocky bottoms
Seasonality: available year round
Colors: dark brown and black
Size: 3/4" - 1"
Collected: by hand or dredge
Quantity: sold by the each
Common name: chestnut astarte clam
Scientific name: Astarte castanea
Locations: sub-tidal on rocky bottoms
Seasonality: available year round
Colors: dark brown and black
Size: 3/4" - 1"
Collected: by hand or dredge
Quantity: sold by the each
This clam is being digested by the stomach of a Northern sea star which has pushed its stomach out through its mouth and into the clam shell to reach its soft body.
Tidepool Tim says, “Astarte clams are a tiny bivalve that we know little about. We get them in our dredge on rocky bottoms but never in great abundance. They seem to live well in our aquaria for years. Occasionally we will find large starfish working their tube feet on these clams to pry them apart and eat up their innards. This is very much a common predator-prey relationship. If one looks at the growth rings on these clams they will see that they grow very slowly. It appears that a 1" clam may be more than a decade in age!”
