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SOLENIDAE

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Solen vaginoides Lamarck, 1818

Description: Shape very elongate, straight or slightly curved, gaping at both ends. Exterior smooth. Interior with anterior adductor muscle scar very long, posterior scar about half as long as anterior scar. Pallial line clearly defined, pallial sinus deep. Hinge at anterior end, with one strong cardinal tooth in each valve, laterals absent. Ligament external, at anterior end, about one-sixth of shell length. Shell exterior white with curved pale brown lines or blotches; interior white. Periostracum thin, smooth, brown.

Size: Up to 102 mm in length.

Distribution: Endemic to Australia: central Qld, southwards and around southern Australia, to WA, including Tas. Several undescribed or recently described Solen species occur in northern Australia (e.g. Solen darwinensis von Cosel, 2002); these were confused with S. vaginoides causing its range to be incorrectly extended northwards by some authors.

Habitat: Lives buried in sand in sheltered inlets, with the short siphons extending up to clear water. Cotton (1961) described the behaviour in South Australia:

“By suddenly extending the foot it is enabled to ascend rapidly the deep burrow it forms in the sand. The Solen usually burrows, from near low tide marks to greater depth, not perpendicularly, but in a slanting direction at an angle of about 60 degrees. When it is disturbed it squirts out water in a strong jet, and having thus compressed the volume of its body, it lengthens and darts out its foot, and rapidly burrows to a depth of two or three feet. So rapid is its movement that when seen at low tide half out of its burrow, the collector requires considerable alertness to dig fast enough to catch it”.

According to Willan (1998: 341) quantities of Solen vaginoides are dug as bait for bream fishing in harbours of south-eastern Australia; it is said these bivalves can be enticed out of the sand by a pinch of salt.

Synonymy: This species outline varies from straight to slightly curved; Iredale (1924) named the slightly curved form Solen correctus Iredale, 1924, but there is continual variation from straight to curved specimens. Additional established synonyms are Solen aspersus Dunker, 1862, Solen philippianus G.B. Sowerby II, 1874, and Solen pictus Clessin, 1888.

Fig. 1: Gunnamatta Bay, Port Hacking, NSW (C.325287)