English: Arcinella cornuta Conrad, 1866 - Florida spiny jewelbox from Florida, USA. (Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, Sanibel Island, Florida, USA)

Bivalves are bilaterally symmetrical molluscs having two calcareous, asymmetrical shells (valves) - they include the clams, oysters, and scallops. In most bivalves, the two shells are mirror images of each other (the major exception is the oysters). They occur in marine, estuarine, and freshwater environments. Bivalves are also known as pelecypods and lamellibranchiates.

Bivalves are sessile, benthic organisms - they occur on or below substrates. Most of them are filter-feeders, using siphons to bring in water, filter the water for tiny particles of food, then expel the used water. The majority of bivalves are infaunal - they burrow into unlithified sediments. In hard substrate environments, some forms make borings, in which the bivalve lives. Some groups are hard substrate encrusters, using a mineral cement to attach to rocks, shells, or wood.

The fossil record of bivalves is Cambrian to Recent. They are especially common in the post-Paleozoic fossil record.

Florida spiny jewelboxes are somewhat bizarre bivalves - they are covered with numerous prominent spines.

From Witherington & Witherington (2007): "[This species has] about 8 radiating ridges with hollow spines (or knobs, if beach-worn). They are white with a pinkish interior. Jewelboxes live cemeted to reefs and debris to moderate depths. Florida spiny jewelboxes detach when young to grow free within sandy rubble."

Classification: Animalia, Mollusca, Bivalvia, Heterodonta, Veneroida, Chamidae

Locality: probably Sanibel Island, southwestern Florida, USA

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Reference cited:

Witherington & Witherington (2007) - Florida's Living Beaches, a Guide for the Curious Beachcomber. Sarasota, Florida. Pineapple Press, Inc. 326 pp.