Family Malleidae - hammer oysters

  Order
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  Class
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Bivalvia
  No. of Genera in Ref.
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  Environment
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Fresh : No | Brackish : No | Marine : Yes
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  Remark
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Shell compressed, irregular in form, more or less dorsoventrally. Dorsal margin often produced at both ends into long, wing-like ears. Ligament set on a transverse median groove. Hinge without teeth. Interior partly nacreous. Only 1 adductor muscle scar, usually with a well-developed pedal retractor scar. Pallial line without sinus. Sedentary animals, living byssally attached to various hard substrates, or free and either partly buried in soft bottoms or embedded in sponges. Gregarious and frequently occurring mixed with Isognomonidae, at intertidal and shallow sublittoral depths. Collected for food and to make lime in the Philippines and Indonesia (Ref. 348).
  Etymology
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  Division
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  Reproductive guild
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  Typical activity level
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  Main Ref.
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  Coordinator
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Ref.
[ e.g. 9948]                       
Glossary
                    [ e.g. cephalopods]