Alternate Tellin (Tellina alternata Say, 1822): Deep Dwellers

An Alternate Tellin may reach a length of 3 inches. The shell is oblong with parallel concentric lines, and is usually white. An angular ridge (almost like a soft wrinkle) runs from the beaks to the posterior margin (or edge). The shell has two little teeth in the hinge under the beak.

The mollusk is a bivalve which lives in shallow water. It can burrow far down in the sand because it feeds through a long siphon which it can extend several times the length of its shell. It may dwell from North Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico.

Notes

The shell pictured here was found at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
For more information on the Alternate Tellin see:
- R. Tucker Abbott, American Seashells.
- Carol M. Williams, Beach Bountiful: Southeast.
Classification: Family Tellinidae; Superfamily Tellinoidea; Order Veneroida; Subclass Heterodonta.
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.

Alternate Tellin:A Lengthy Siphon

Notes

Alternate Tellin:
A Lengthy Siphon