181 



Bousfield, E. L. 1960. 



Canadian Atlantic Sea Shells. Canadian Dept. Northern Affairs and National 

 Resources, National Museum of Canada, v+72 p. 



Venus (Mercenaria) mercenaria: northern quahog, hard shell clam, littleneck, 

 cherrystone; 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 inches. SW Gulf of St. Lawrence: Miramichi Bay 

 to Cape Breton Island; rare elsewhere but recorded at the head of St. Mary 

 Bay, Digby Co., N.S. and Tidal Cove, Passamaquoddy Bay, N.B; abundant from 

 New England states to Gulf of Mexico. Fairly common on mud bottom in warm 

 shallow bays and estuaries. Shell thick, heavy, moderately inflated; 

 exterior dull white with numerous concentric growth lines, strongly raised 

 in young specimens. Lunule large, moderately sunk. Interior white, 

 posterior border and muscle scar purple; lower margin finely crenulate. 

 Each valve with 3 cardinal teeth but no laterals. Pallial sinus shallow, 

 triangular. - J.L.M. 



182 



Bowden, J. 1958. 



The structure and innervation of lamellibranch muscle. Internatl. Rev. Cytol. 

 7: 295-335. 



A few species, including Venus (Mercenaria) , have pink muscles as in smooth 

 and double-obliquely striated parts of Venus adductor muscles. Contracted 

 fibers from different adductor muscles showed characteristic lattices, on the 

 basis of which Marceau (1909) , abstracted elsewhere in this bibliography, 

 classified them into 3 groups. Group 2 had fewer fibrils than group 1 and a 

 more obvious and open lattice. These were in slow parts of adductors of most 

 genera, including Venus. This is a review paper, in which specific references 

 to Venus were cited from papers abstracted elsewhere in this bibliography. 

 - J.L.M. and M.W.S. 



183 



Boyden, C. R. 1974. 



Trace element content and body size in molluscs. Nature (LondJ 251 (5473): 

 311-314. 



Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni , Pb, and Zn were measured in 6 molluscan species, including 

 Mercenaria mercenaria, from Southampton Water, England. Precise relationships 

 between trace element content and dry body weight depended on element and 

 species. Three general relationships were identified: 1) element content 

 related to about 0.75 power of body wt — this was true for Cd, Cu, and Fe in 

 M. mercenaria; 2) element content directly related to body wt — true for Ni, 

 Pb, and Zn in hard clam; and 3) element content directly related to square of 

 body wt — true only for the limpet Patella vulgata. However, although total 

 trace element content was directly related to body wt in all species examined, 

 concentration per unit wt of tissue usually was greatest in small animals, e.g. 

 the regression was negative, or at best zero. - J.L.M. 



184 



Boyden, C. R. 1977. 



Effect of size upon metal content of shellfish. J. Mar. Biol Assn U K 

 57(3): 675-714. " ' 



A single population of Mercenaria mercenaria from Southampton Water in 

 southern England was sampled in January 1974. Dry tissue weight varied from 

 about 0.15 g to about 8 g. For Cd, Cu, and Fe regression of metal content on 

 dry tissue weight had slopes less than 1.00. For Ni , Pb, and Zn slopes were 

 close to 1.00 (1.01 to 1.05). Ni and Pb concentrations were low. Other 

 species examined were oysters, mussel, Venerupis, scallops, and several 

 gastropods. - J.L.M. 



51 



