[45] FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 229 



Mya arenaria, Linne. 



This is the "clam" of the Massachusetts coast. The "long," or "soft 

 clam," of Long- Island Sound and the Middle States, and the a Mana- 

 uose" of the Southern States. Its range is from the Arctic Ocean to 

 South Carolina, but it is rare south of Cape Hatteras. It is particu- 

 larly large and abundant in Long Island Sound, and is also found on 

 the coasts of Alaska and California. It is fossil in the Post-Pliocene 

 formations of New England and the Southern States, and also in the 

 Miocene of Maryland. This species, though found on sandy shores in 

 the littoral zone, prefers a bottom where there is a mixture of mud or 

 gravel, or both, with the sand. It lives on outer beaches, but not in 

 loose sands, and generally is most abundant in the sheltered bays and 

 estuaries. Its burrows are permanent, and it is usually buried a foot or 

 more below the surface, its long siphons enabling it to reach the neces- 

 sary food and oxygen at that distance. The specimens of this shell 

 taken from outer sandy beaches are thinner, whiter, and more regular in 

 form than those found in the estuaries ; they are also covered with a thin, 

 yellow epidermis. The specimens from the estuaries are rough, mud-col- 

 ored, and homely, and might easily be mistaken for another species. The 

 spawning season is during the spring or early summer months ; the pro- 

 cess of reproduction has not yet been studied, and no definite informa- 

 tion is available regarding the embryonic or early life of the animal. 

 After they become perceptible, however, they are found anchored to the 

 bottom by a slender byssus, and at a very early stage of g rowth the foot is 

 developed, and with it the animal's power of burrowing. They usually 

 exist in communities, or beds, on the flats, sinking themselves deep in the 

 sand and mud during the winter, and coming nearer the surface as the 

 warm weather approaches. "The clam" is eaten extensively in the 

 neighborhood of the Bay of Fundy, and the shell-heaps bear evidence 

 that this consumption is not of recent date, but that the Mya arenaria 

 furnished the Indians with food centuries ago. Extensive beds occur at 

 intervals along the coast of Maine, and the mouths of all the rivers and 

 estuaries contain this clam to more or less extent. It is indeed the most 

 important shell-fish of the State, and the annual yield is estimated at 

 nearly 316,000 bushels, valued at about $88,472. 



The Massachusetts fishery is the one of most consequence, and the 

 whole coast of that State was at one time saturated with clams, the 

 young sometimes being so abundant as to whiten the beaches and flats; 

 of late years, however, this abundance has not been so marked, and the 

 clams are disappearing through overfishing. They are ordinarily taken 

 by digging, but on the flats north of Boston, and in the neighborhood 

 of Plymouth and Duxbury, at one time they were so plentiful that plows 

 were used in turning them up to the surface. 



Though the Mya arenaria is taken to a small extent in Buzzard's Bay, 

 the next point of importance is Narragansett Bay and the Uhode Island 



