Lady-in-Waiting Venus (Chione intapurpurea Conrad, 1849): Slightly Wrinkled Goddess

The prettily-named Lady-in-Waiting Venus is yellowish, off-white, or white. Sometimes the surface is freckled with tan, squarish markings. The interior of the shell is white, with a purplish splotch on the posterior inner surface. The sturdy shell reaches a length of 1¾ inches, and is marked with many crowded concentric ridges. These ridges are wrinkly on the posterior end of the bivalve shell. The lower margin (or “edge”) of the shell is serrated. The beaks (pointy parts) are prominent, but low, and face toward the anterior of the shell.

The Lady-in-Waiting is a member of the Venus Clam family, a family with more than 400 species worldwide. All the Venuses have strong hinges (which hold the two valves together), and a well-developed escutcheon (a depression behind the beak, often encompassing an external ligament) and lunule (a depression in front of the beak). There are two muscle scars connected by a pallial groove on the inner surface of Venus clamshells.

Venus clams are found in all seas. The Lady-in-Waiting is found in fairly shallow water from North Carolina to the West Indies.

Notes

The specimens pictured here were found at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
For more information on the Lady-in-Waiting Venus see:
- R. Tucker Abbott and Percy A. Morris, Peterson Field Guides: Shells of the Atlantic & Gulf Coasts & the West Indies.
- S. Peter Dance, Eyewitness Handbook of Shells.
- Percy A. Morris, A Field Guide to the Shells of Our Atlantic Coast.
- Carol M. Williams, Beach Bountiful: Southeast.
Classification: Family Veneridae; Superfamily Veneroidea; 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.

Lady-in-Waiting Venus: A Few Premature Wrinkles

Notes

Lady-in-Waiting Venus:
A Few Premature Wrinkles