The quahaug, Venus mereenaria, is placed with soft clam (My a) and sea clam 

 (Mactva) in the class Lamellibranchia of the order Eulamellibranchia because 

 the edges of the mantle are united by one or two sutures, there are two 

 adductor muscles, and gill filaments are united at regular intervals by 

 vascular junctions. The scientific name is supposed to have arisen from use 

 of the shell as "black wampum" by Indians, "black" because the more purple 

 the greater the value. Hard clam is a truly American species, found from 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence to Gulf of Mexico. A few have been found on the 

 Pacific coast, where they were transplanted accidentally with oysters. 

 Attempts are being made to develop an industry in Louisiana, but demand is 

 small. In Mass. few are found north of Plymouth. Evidence from Indian shell 

 heaps suggest that quahaug once was more widely distributed in the area. It 

 is suggested that declining water temperatures in Massachusetts Bay have been 

 responsible for the change. Beds in New England and New York have been 

 overfished. Principal commercial fisheries in Mass. are in the Buzzards Bay 

 villages, and at Wellfleet, Eastham, Orleans, Edgartown, and Nantucket. It 

 is found on sandy and muddy flats just below low water and sometimes between 

 the tide lines, down to more than 5 ft, in exposed areas on the north side 

 of Cape Cod, and in sheltered bays and inlets on the southern coast of the 

 State. A detailed description is given of internal and external anatomy and 

 of egg, spermatozoon, and spawning. Temperature affects hard clams in 3 

 principal ways: by regulating food supply and hence growth, by controlling 

 geographic distribution, and by influencing various stages of development. 

 In laboratory, some lots of hard clam spawned 3 different times during 

 season. In Wellfleet lab. quahaugs extruded spawn from 23 June to 29 July. 

 Season lasts less than a month for any particular batch. Temperature is the 

 controlling factor in spawning. The average quahaug spawns when 2 years old, 

 in its 3rd summer, at 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches long. At Wellfleet lab. only 

 clams in the 2 1/2- to 3 3/4-inch category spawned, however. Littlenecks 

 under 2 1/2 inches and blunts did not throw eggs or sperm. Attachment, 

 setting, and movements are discussed in some detail. Slight breaks in the 

 shell are not always fatal. The clam repairs the break from the inside. 

 An abstract cannot do justice to this comprehensive work, which goes into 

 many aspects of the biology of hard clam, the decline of the industry in 

 Massachusetts, and possibilities for aquaculture. It is liberally illustrated 

 with drawings, graphs, and photographs. - J.L.M. 



153 



Belding, David L. 1916. 



A report upon the clam fishery. Mass. Comm. Fish Game, 50th Ann. Rept. for 

 the year 1915, Doc. 25: 93-239. 



The report deals in great detail with soft clam, My a arenaria, and only 

 occasional mention is made of Mercenaria (Venus) meraenaria. Young V. 

 mercenaria crawl by a pulling movement of the foot. The small clam opens 

 its valves, stretches out the foot, and applies the distal end to a suitable 

 resting place. The 2 retractor muscles of the foot are relaxed. As the 

 foot is extended, the shell is drawn down slightly toward the tip of the 

 foot by contraction of the anterior retractor. Thus the foot is drawn into 

 the shell, which advances the shell as far as the distal end of the foot, 

 covering a distance equal to the length of the extruded foot. Growth of 

 any mollusk is proportional directly to weight of shell. A quahaug of 25 mm 

 increases in volume by 527% in a year. - J.L.M. 



154 



Belding, D. L. 1931. 



The quahaug fishery of Massachusetts. Mass. Dept. Conserv., Div. Fish 

 Game, Mar. Fish. Serv. 2, 41 p. 



This comprehensive paper, prepared for information of consumers and fishermen, 

 would require an abstract almost as long to do it justice. This abstract is 

 primarily a digest of the one-page resume of main facts, and a short version 

 of the 68-item table of contents. Length of life uncertain, at least 20-25 

 yrs; max. size in Mass. over 5 1/4 inches long; at legal size (2 in) is about 

 2 1/2 yrs old; sexually mature in second year, about 1 1/2 inches long; 



44 



