Kitten's Paw (Plicatula giblosa Lamarck, 1801): Washed Up Cat

Found from the beaches of North Carolina to the shores of the West Indies, cute little Kitten's Paw shells look like their name. The shell may be as big as an inch long, and is usually white, gray, pinkish-brown, reddish, or dark with age. The color often is more pronounced on the shell's six or seven folds, which look like the toe joints of a paw. Another name for this bivalve is Cat's Paw.

The living bivalve, or “pelecypod,” lives attached to coral or rocks. Collectors usually find one valve of the creature, rather than the two halves joined by their hinge.

Notes

The shells pictured here were found at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
For more information on the Kitten's Paw see:
- R. Tucker Abbott and Percy A. Morris, Peterson Field Guides: Shells of the Atlantic & Gulf Coasts & the West Indies.
- R. Tucker Abbott, Sea Shells of the World.
Classification: Family Plicatulidae; Superfamily Plicatuloidea; Suborder Ostreina; Order Ostreoida; Subclass Pteriomorphia.
Scientific nomenclature is subject to change, due to ongoing research. The above classification corresponds to that published by the Conchologists of America, Inc.
Digital formatting is by Jonathan Mitchell.

Kitten's Paw:Hasn't Scratched Yet

Notes

Kitten's Paw:
Hasn't Scratched Yet