Talk:Bivalvia/Archive 1

Archive 1

Spine

The article currently reads:

Additionally, bivalves became mobile: some developed spines for buoyancy, while others suck in and eject water to enable propulsion.

The link being to spine (anatomy), which is actually a redirect to vertebral column, which is surely not what is intended! This needs to be changed, but to what I am not sure. --Iustinus 16:40, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

I noticed this too. I removed the link, since I don't know where it should point. I am curious how spines increased bouyancy, and it would be nice if someone could explain.

Shells

It would be nice to have more information about bivalve shells, as a parallel to Gastropod shell -- both are linked as main articles from Animal shell. Thanks! — Catherine\^talk 15:41, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Systematics

I'll be revising this when I have some spare time. I'm doing research on bivalve phylogenetics and checked here just out of curiosity to see what classification scheme was used. I'm even unsure of what the most accepted phylogeny is, as of yet, but I know it is very different from Carter's 1965 system in terms of subclasses and orders. I believe it is broken into two superclasses (Protobranchia(Nuculoida,Solemyoida,Nuculanoida) and Autolamellibranchiata(Pteriomorphia and Heteroconchia(Palaeoheterdonta,Heterodonta))). I also added the line about Anomolodesmata being an order within Heterodonta. Esoxid^t 22:58, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Gills

In the anatomy section there should be discussion of the gill morphology. Gibby is gibby (talk) 15:26, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Dispute

Somebody please fix the unscientific italicization of above-genus toxa througout the article and send the editor responsible a note please not to do this again. Dysmorodrepanis (talk) 06:30, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Italicisation: fixed. Note: not sent. Some scientific standards explicitly call for this kind of formatting (they're in the minority, of course, but they count the ICBN among their number). --Stemonitis (talk) 17:05, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Paraphyletic taxa

Lets not get hung up on paraphyly, as in the last sentence in the section on Taxonomy. In ordinary classifications paraphyletic taxa, those that give rise to new taxa not included, is a perfectly good and reasonable concept outside of the more narrowly confined rules of cladistics. J.H.McDonnell (talk) 16:28, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

2010 proposed taxonomy

I have added more recent references (2002 through 2011) and the 2010 Bieler, et al. proposed taxonomy of the Bivalvia, which has been accepted by WoRMS.Shellnut (talk) 03:34, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Vandalism

We had a vandalism attack yesterday by an unsigned user. Something rude about "tacos", "cheese" and a "grandma". This was thankfully found and removed by a BOT, however if it had not been caught we might not have seen it for a while as it was buried in the reference section. Is there a way to prevent people who are NOT registered Users from editing?Shellnut (talk) 16:03, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

You can go and ask at the protection requests but I don't expect them to protect the page on account of a single vandal attack. Sophie means wisdom (talk) 17:20, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

They're caught easily enough. This isn't a high profile page to necessitate that. Esoxid^t 22:07, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

I know, it's just frustrating, and it has happened now twice in two weeks. Shellnut (talk) 22:22, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Bivalvia/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Keilana (talk · contribs) 19:39, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Hello Cwmhiraeth, I'll have the review posted by 5:00 UTC if that's ok. Keilana|^{Parlez ici} 19:39, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Thank you Keilana, I look forward to your assessment of how the article shapes up. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 05:12, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

Hi! I did do a pretty thorough copyedit. Feel free to change back if I screwed something up. Overall, this is a REALLY ambitious effort and I'm thoroughly impressed! I do have a bunch of suggestions, but that's mostly a function of how broad a topic/how long an article this is. Let me know if you have any questions, and I'm sure we'll get this promoted in no time. :) Keilana|^{Parlez ici} 22:26, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

• Thank you for the thorough copyedit, Keilana. I agree with the wording of the changes you have made. I will work my way through the suggestions and comments made below. With regard to the taxonomy sections, these are pretty much unaltered by me as they are not at all my area of expertise and I do not have the necessary knowledge or access to suitable texts to make improvements. I will try to get other, more knowledgeable, members of Project Bivalves to help. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 05:41, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

• Sounds good. I also have HighBeam access and excellent database access through my local community college and library, so I can also help you dig up sources if you need help. :) Keilana|^{Parlez ici} 05:54, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

• "of which the Unionidae contain about 700 species" is an awkward phrase.  Done
• Just because I feel the need to ask, is the whole first paragraph in Etymology cited to source #8?  Done
• Also, the last few sentences of the 2nd paragraph of Etymology need to be cited.  Done
• Wait, isn't Bivalva the current name (or a mis-spelling thereof)?  Done
• The venerid image caption has too many "of"s and needs rewriting.  Done
• I'd like to see more on globular vs. flattened shells, is there anything else you can turn up?  Done
• Can you list the bits that the mantle crest secretes?  Done
• I'm a tiny bit concerned that the whole section on mantle and shell relies on one source. If that's like THE authoritative bivalve anatomy source, that's fine, but if not, I'd really prefer more source diversity.  Done
• The phrase "usually with the aragonite forming an inner, nacreous layer, as is the case in the order Pterioida" is awkward, maybe split it up.  Done
• Could you change "the shell is added to" to "the shell grows", or is that not biologically accurate? Best left as it is I think.
• Can you explain how the valves thicken throughout the bivalve's life?  Done
• "at a hinge joint at the animal's dorsum" sounds redundant.  Done
• What's the name of the muscles attached to the inner surface of both valves? Adductor muscles. The name is mentioned in several places.
• What do the cerebropleural and siphonal ganglia do? Explanation provided.
• Can you stick a sentence in there explaining that statocysts are little nodules that help the bivalve get oriented?  Done
• Do you have any sources that explain what the simple bivalve eyes look like?  Done
• Can you move the sentence about Anomalodesmata to the first paragraph? It's a little weird where it is.  Done
• Are there more sources for the muscle section? Expanded and an extra source used.
• Why is the anterior muscle not present in some species? Explained.
• Are ciliated interfilamentar junctions and interfilamentar ciliated junctions the same thing? Yes
• Change "through this to the rest of the body" to "then to the rest of the body" or "subsequently to the rest of the body".  Done
• Which bivalves have one aorta and which ones have more than one? I don't know.
• Are there any scientific papers addressing the circulation and respiration? I don't know.
• Which species have hemoglobin dissolved in the blood serum? What advantages does this give them? Is it unusual? I don't know.
• Which species are the ones that you refer to as "these primitive bivalves [which] hold onto the substratum..."?  Done
• What do they eat?  Done
• The "Modes of feeding" section could do with more sources, but it's not a huge deal.  Done
• How does the gill structure vary?  Done
• Should there be a "the" before "granular poromya"? Yes, I have added it.
• You definitely need to explain the Entovalva thing more...that's REALLY cool and I'm dying for more detail there. I have expanded this.
• Is there more to the digestive system of carnivorous bivalves?  Done
• The excretory system needs more. Also, do any species/genera/orders/*insert taxonomic group here* have unusual excretory systems? Expanded section a little. I don't know of any unusual systems.
• "from where it is washed away in the stream of exhalant water" is awkward.  Done
• Can you explain the fertilization process in more detail?  Done
• What's the stage before they hatch into larvae called?  Done
• If there are more unusual reproductive systems, you should include them. It's ok to have more - it's not too long yet. I have renamed and considerably expanded the section.
• Despite its flair, calling a reproductive strategy "remarkable" is a bit of biology fanboy/girl ism.  Done
• The phrase "The edge of the female's body that protrudes from the valves of the shell" is awkward.  Done
• You totally left me hanging! How do the young hatch and mature? What happens after they eat fish cyst tissue? (Which is totally gross, by the way). I have added to this.
• How often to they usually reproduce? I'm guessing this varies by species, so maybe you could give the extremes and the typical one?  Done
• What adaptations do they have for living in these weird environments? I have added a couple.
• It's weird that you say shells "live" beneath the sand. It seems normal to me.
• Is it totally necessary to say that the Antarctic scallop lives "at sub-zero temperatures"? That's sort of implied by "Antarctica" in the name. :P I have altered this. Sub-zero is pretty extreme!.
• Is the Ouachita creekshell mussel endangered, by any chance? Yes. I have added this.
• Are there any other invasive species? (zebra mussels?) Added information on zebra mussels.
• Is it necessary to say "between high and low water marks"?  Done
• Are there any other predators of bivalves? Added much information.
• Any others that cement themselves to stuff?  Done

I mentioned a few other families. Invertzoo (talk) 23:56, 6 May 2012 (UTC)  Done

• How quickly can razor shells dig themselves in the sand?  Done

Faster than you can dig them up, hope there is a ref for this though. Invertzoo (talk) 23:56, 6 May 2012 (UTC) Information added on digging speeds.

• Can you explain the siphon regeneration?  Done
• Do any other species/taxa have defensive secretions? I have not found any.
• Are brachiopods related to Bivalvia? No. I have clarified this.
• Does anybody know how a lophophore relates to feeding? I have clarified this.
• What kind of shells do bivalves have? Do you mention that at any point? I think this is adequately explained elsewhere.
• Does the "lost 95% of their diversity" mean they lost 95% of their species?  Done
• You don't make it clear if brachiopods are still around. I have clarified this.
• I would suggest changing "either shell morphology, hinge type, or gill type" to "choosing between shell morphology...".  Done
• Can you explain the last 2 sentences of that paragraph a bit further?  Done
• Also, the paragraph beginning "In the last decade" may need more explanation.  Done
• The 1935 taxonomy section really needs to be prosified and the orders could do with more detail.  Done
• Is there a key for all the symbols in the taxonomies?  Done
• Is the sentence "The monophyly of the Anomalodesmata is disputed, but this is of less consequence because that group does not include higher-level prehistoric taxa." your opinion, or professional biologists' generally agreed-upon idea? I have removed this opinion.
• Why did Franc separate the Septibranchia from the eulamellibranchs? I have expanded this statement.
• Is it necessary to have the publications listed under the proposed taxonomy? I have removed it.
• Also, just wondering, is it standard practice to list all of the sub-taxa (or whatever they're called) in an article like this? I'm not sure. However this is the main article for the class Bivalvia and this classification differs from previous classifications in the placement of taxa and provides information unlikely to be included elsewhere in Wikipedia.
• The citations like "Liu & Gu, 1988" should be inline to reduce clutter. These are the scientists who first described the taxon and so should be retained where they are.
• In general, your references are formatted inconsistently. I'd prefer you use the cite template convention. If you want me to help (I know how much of a giant pain this can be), I can totally do that. I think I have done them all.

Thanks so much for your great work! I know this is a lot, so take as long as you need to. Keilana|^{Parlez ici} 22:26, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

• I believe I have dealt with all the things on this list and additionally have added some more information and new sources. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 10:34, 10 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Nice job! I've re-read the article and am passing it with no further concerns. My comments about missing information may be good to think about before an FAC, which is why I posted them in the first place. If you need something from a specific database, I have decent access and can email documents. Once again, congratulations! :) Keilana|^{Parlez ici} 20:50, 11 May 2012 (UTC)
    • Congratulations Cwmhiraeth for a very thorough upgrade to an overview article that is "the" essential article for the Bivalve Project! Invertzoo (talk) 21:27, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Congratulations Cwmhiraeth! This article is near and dear to my heart and I really appreciate all the work and effort you put into it. Nice job!!! Shellnut (talk) 22:44, 25 June 2012 (UTC)

Contradictory information?

Just noticed that this page under "Muscles" states that scallops cannot extend their foot. The page on scallops states that some scallops can extend their foot. No idea which is correct, but not sure the present situation is right either. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.222.173.211 (talk) 04:40, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

I have corrected this. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:38, 13 June 2012 (UTC)

Reference clutter in Bivalvia

I inclined to agree with the editor causing the remote discussion about "reference clutter" in Bivalvia. You're not going to increase the article's accuracy by increasing its truthiness to you, which is about all I can figure out for attaching this string of references. "Phylogenetic position of the bivalve family Cyrenoididae – removal from (and further dismantling of) the superfamily Lucinoidea" does not reliably source the sentence it is attached to. It seems that three of the other articles, although I don't have time to read them fully, do deal with this specific issue, including even specific assertions to this. So, I don't understand why family Cyrenoididae has such high level importance.

If the sentence is left in, I would appreciate an elaboration of the importance to higher level taxonomies of Bivalvia occupied by family Cyrenoididae.

However, I'm only a minor player in Bivalve taxonomies, so, I could be wrong. Either way, please quote and elaborate on how this particular article gives a more accurate phylogeny of the bivalves, and add that information to the article. Thanks. Eau (talk) 23:30, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Merge with clam?

Shouldn't they be merged? FunkMonk (talk) 19:14, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

No. Clams are bivalves, bivalves are not clams. Clam is a general term, and can apply to species in various orders in the class Bivalvia. Esoxid^t 04:16, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Can you give me, then, an example of a bivalve that is not a clam? And tell me to which order it belongs? And then can you tell me to which phylogenic group "the clams" belong? Because as near as I have been able to figure it so far, it looks to me like all bivalves are clams... And although I realize there would be much resistance to the proposal that the two be merged into one article, that doesn't mean it isn't correct. The "clam" article avoids any discussion of phylogeny, and I suspect it does so for this very reason. I await some examples. KDS4444^Talk 22:28, 5 August 2014 (UTC)

Images

• http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/nmfs/figb0530.htm - Anatomy of oyster. --Snek01 00:53, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Dead link. KDS4444^Talk 22:30, 5 August 2014 (UTC)

Question

Do bivalves change sex during the course of their life?

They are overwhelmingly gonochoristic but a few are hermaphroditic, but don't know which ones are.Esoxid^t 22:19, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

I can tell you with certainty that the shipworms change sex as they age, starting off male and then becoming female. KDS4444^Talk 22:31, 5 August 2014 (UTC)

Taxonomic order endings with -ea vs. -a

It looks like according to the main table in this article that all of the orders of bivalves end with an -ea suffix. But according to WoRMS, all orders of bivalves end in just -a. Is this table outdated? Shouldn't it align correctly with WoRMS? Also, when you click on any of the blue-linked "orders", you are taken to a subfamily, not an order. Any way you slice it, this is confusing and contradictory and something seems like it should be done about it. No? Or do I have something wrong? KDS4444^Talk 01:35, 9 August 2014 (UTC)

Neithea

Is anyone able to classify and link to Neithea? ~KvnG 00:59, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

Also Potamomya. ~KvnG 19:25, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

You say Bivalvia, I say Pelecypoda...

So, there are these two names for the Bivalve class of Molluscs (shown in the title). Now, I have a textbook (Advanced Biology by Michael Kent, page 494) which calls them by the latter (Pelecypoda) but says that they were for a long time know by the other [Bivalvia]. The wiki entry here say the opposite, that Bivalvia is the new term. Now, I'd normally go with the textbook but it was published in 2000 so it might be out of date and I can't find any internet resource to reconcile the two terms. Can someone provide a citation to the entry which does, please? The Talking Toaster (talk) 18:12, 1 May 2011 (UTC)

As far as I know, either Pelecypoda is an older term, or a term used by paeleontologists. I was doing work on Bivalve phylogenetics, and the paeleos seemed to use that term more often. In my line of work (marine ecology), I never hear anyone use that term. Esoxid^t 22:07, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

According to my training in palaeontology in the 1980s, although "pelycypoda" would be a good name for this group, and it would nicely parallel the other classes of the Mollusca (Cephalopoda and Gastropoda), there was no dispute that Bivalvia was the earlier term in use. So, by the rules of nomenclature, Bivalvia is the term to use. No dispute about it - unless you've found something from the 16th century that uses "Pelycypoda" in this sense.

Aidan Karley (talk) 13:42, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

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True clams

Now that clam has been unceremoniously redirected here, there is no mention anywhere of the common definition of a "true" clam, as distinct from other bivalves. Srnec (talk) 00:55, 22 February 2017 (UTC)

How to define it in a way more succinct or grammatically correct than "a bivalve that isn't an oyster, scallop, shipworm, mussel, (insert specific subtaxon of bivalve here), etc."?--Mr Fink (talk) 01:08, 22 February 2017 (UTC)

You could define oysters in a like way. What is your point? The old article said: "More specifically, true clams are bivalves having two shells of equal size connected by two adductor muscles and having a powerful burrowing foot. They are infaunal, spending most of their lives partially buried in the sand of the ocean floor. These characteristics distinguish the true clams from other bivalves, such as oysters, mussels, and scallops." The Encyclopaedia Britannica gives us this: "True clams, in the strict sense, are bivalves with equal shells closed by two adductor muscles situated at opposite ends of the shell, and with a powerful, muscular, burrowing foot. Clams characteristically lie buried from just beneath the surface to depths of about 0.6 metre (2 feet). They rarely travel over the bottom as do some other bivalves." The phrase "today often referred to as simply clams", currently in the article, was only added today. Srnec (talk) 01:26, 22 February 2017 (UTC)

So, "true clams" are a monophyletic group?--Mr Fink (talk) 01:50, 22 February 2017 (UTC)

You can define any subgroup by exhaustively listing every other subgroup it is not. Which is what you did. Real sources, like Encyclopaedia Britannica, do not do it that way. The point is that "clam" is not only and always used as a mere synonym for bivalve, but this article never tells you that. Srnec (talk) 02:50, 22 February 2017 (UTC)

Before I saw this discussion, I returned the first sentence in the article to a previous version. The definition of Bivalvia should be in scientific terms. The word "clam" is not used in Britain as a popular name for these molluscs. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 09:44, 22 February 2017 (UTC)

@Cwmhiraeth: I was about to change it back - either this article needs to deal with clams/bivalvia together, which I think is possible even with the BE difference in usage, or Clam needs to be reinstated. It is not going to be acceptable for Clam to redirect here without the lead describing the association; we might also need to discuss whether a merged article, if it persists, should be at Clam per WP:COMMON NAME. Now you have seen that there is discussion over the part you removed what would you suggest? BW |→ Spaully ^~talk~  10:16, 22 February 2017 (UTC)

Proposed merger of Clam into Bivalvia

KDS4444 (talk · contribs) was bold and formed a redirect from Clam to this article, which is a reasonable proposal but I think it is becoming clear from the subsequent discussion and changes to Bivalvia that it is a merger that would benefit from discussion. As such I have reinstated Clam and am proposing a merger here as per protocol.

This is a copy of KDS4444's reasoning posted on Talk:Clam:

I recently converted this into a redirect to Bivalvia. I suspect this may be undone soon, and would like to lay out some of my reasoning here. The opening sentence of this article is "Clam is the general common name of any mollusks within the class Bivalvia." If it is a common name for another class of animal, then why is it not included with the article on that animal and mentioned as a common name? We don't have separate articles for Canis canis and "dog", we have "dog." Beyond this, the content of the article duplicates (though only haphazardly) the content of Bivalvia— this means we have a second article that covers the same topic less well, which is unhelpful to readers. Next, the article makes reference to and covers topics which are specific to particular languages (Italian, Japenese, etc.) which do not even have the word "clam" in their vocabularies and which organize their sense of molluscs differently from the way that we do in English. And next, in the various articles on specific species of clam, the introductory sentence nearly always reads "...is a marine/ freshwater bivalve mollusc if the family XXXX-idae." While I appreciate that the term "clam" is used by some English speakers to indicate particular classes of animals (according to one source, it refers specifically and only to Mya arenaria and no other species, distinguishing it from the quahogs and the scallops and presumably from the hard shell clams), having an article whose content includes no useful information distinguishing "clams" from any other bivalve group is disorienting and impractical and does not further the intentions of the Project. From the talk page above it is evident that I am not the first editor to have questioned the utility of having a separate article on "clams"— I didn't intend to redirect this article until I read its content, and saw that it consisted of duplicate information unrelated to its use in English. If we want to have an article called "Clam" then we need to fill that article with information that is not simply duplicated in another article, and if that cannot be done (which, according to the content of the article when I last saw it, could not) then it seems to me that the articles aught to point to the same namespace. KDS4444 (talk) 01:17, 22 February 2017 (UTC) Copied from Talk:Clam as background for this merger discussion

Clearly Bivalvia is the more comprehensive, and objectively better, article but there is a case that they cover different topics and so can coexist.

I would suggest there are 3 reasonable options:

1. Leave both articles existing and aim to improve Clam with a focus on it as a common term
2. Merge Clam into Bivalvia with a redirect and explanation in Bivalvia to welcome those redirected
3. Merge Clam into Bivalvia but have them at Clam per WP:COMMON NAME

I hope this is not felt to be too hasty, and of course these are not the only options available. Best wishes |→ Spaully ^~talk~  10:32, 22 February 2017 (UTC)

• I see no benefit in the proposed merger and would choose option one. My interest in the article Bivalvia lies in the fact that it was the first article I brought to FA status back in 2012. Without wanting to take "ownership" of the article, I am not keen to see the content and wording that was worked out in a lengthy FA review process dragged down by incorporation of off-topic and less well referenced material. Then again, I am unsure what a "clam" is; true clams are apparently distinct from oysters, scallops, mussels and cockles. It does not seem correct to merge one sort of bivalve into the article Bivalvia which covers the whole class of molluscs. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 11:03, 22 February 2017 (UTC)

• Oppose: "Clam" is not a name for all bivalves, but for plain-shelled edible bivalves that the article rightly states are not the other edible bivalves such as oysters, mussels, and scallops. "Clam" is thus basically a culinary term, not a taxonomic one, and it does not extend to the whole of the Bivalvia. We should specialize Clam away from synonymy and towards its culinary usage. Chiswick Chap (talk) 11:37, 22 February 2017 (UTC)

• Oppose per the rationals provided. "Clam" is a broad vernacular term used loosely for some bivalves, but is not synonymous with Bivalve.--Kevmin § 02:33, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

• Oppose Not all bivalves are clams. That the Wikipedia article is making the uncited claim that clam is a general term for bivalves doesn't make it so. Improve the article to better explain what clams are. The bivalve article is not the place to define "clam". Plantdrew (talk) 03:04, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

• Oppose: I agree broadly with Chiswick Chap. "Clam" is not a taxonomic term, and it is a mistake to think it is a scientific or biological concept like a bivalve. Instead, it is a term which belongs to common or everyday usage, with all the vagaries that entails. As such it should have its own article. It is widely used in fisheries, seafood marketing, and in culinary contexts. Its usage has a history which varies with both time and locality. Usage in say the United States can differ from usage in Britain, and countries with languages other than English do not necessarily have an equivalent term. There are parallels with terms like shrimp and prawn. --Epipelagic (talk) 09:31, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

• Oppose: I agree with Epipelagic. Invertzoo (talk) 14:38, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
• Oppose It's not entirely a culinary term, but I suspect there is an element of WP:ENGVAR here. Certainly in the UK the vast majority of bivalves consumed are marine mussels, with freshwater mussels and oysters trailing and "clams" behind them. There may be parts of one country in North America where clams are so locally dominant as to have become a generic term for all bivalves, but it's not true globally.Le Deluge (talk) 04:29, 8 March 2017 (UTC)

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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120415133556/http://el.erdc.usace.army.mil/zebra/zmis/zmishelp4/nervous_system_and_sense_organs.htm to http://el.erdc.usace.army.mil/zebra/zmis/zmishelp4/nervous_system_and_sense_organs.htm
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Merge Bivalvia and Clam wiki article

Clam is the main English word for bivalve, so many bivalves are called clams and no one bats an eyelid, but so few are called mussels, oysters and scallops. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gyrkin (talk • contribs) 04:59, 12 October 2017 (UTC) Then the neological meaning of clams is purely biological/zoological and not what it means in Everyday usage or meant in the English language's past. What is the word that English people were calling bivalves before they used the term bivalve, it is obvious that the word bivalve came much later and no person that spoke Middle English would name a clam a bivalve. Before the emergence of biology as a science cephalopods were known as inkfish, there is no reason that anyone at that time used latin word for such and similar creatures, it is logical that people used anglicized words and that latin words amphisbaenians, cephalopods, echinoderms came much later. What do you expect for a person that spoke Middle English to call a bivalve? Before we got the modern meanings of what clams are? Do you really think a early modern person would call a clam a bivalve? Enlighten me please, how are bivalves different from clams?— Preceding unsigned comment added by Gyrkin (talk • contribs)

People may mistakenly refer to all bivalves as "clams", but the article Clam covers just clams, which are found in multiple taxonomic groups within Bivalvia. The lead section of Clam discusses the differences between clams and other major groups of bivalves. It would not be appropriate to generalize all ~9,000 species of bivalves as clams when all of them are not called clams. – Rhinopias (talk) 05:54, 12 October 2017 (UTC)

Consensus has already been reached on this matter. Please read #Proposed merger of Clam into Bivalvia above. --Epipelagic (talk) 05:57, 12 October 2017 (UTC)

Then the neological meaning of clams is purely biological/zoological and not what it means in Everyday usage or meant in the English language's past. Before the emergence of biology as a science cephalopods were known as inkfish, there is no reason that anyone at that time used latin word for such and similar creatures, it is logical that people used anglicized words and that latin words amphisbaenians, cephalopods, echinoderms came much later. What is the word that English people were calling bivalves before they used the term bivalve, it is obvious that the word bivalve came much later and no person that spoke Middle English would name a clam a bivalve. What do you expect for a person that spoke Middle English to call a bivalve? Before we got the modern meanings of what clams are? Do you really think a early modern person would call a clam a bivalve? Enlighten me please, how are bivalves different from clams?— Preceding unsigned comment added by Gyrkin (talk • contribs)

The words clam, oyster, cockle, scallop and mussel are all several hundred years old. I don't see where the word clam was ever used to apply to all of them, and how, even if that were the case, why they should be called that now. and of course, as clam now refers to only some bivalves, and not all of them, calling all of them clams would simply add to the confusion. Bivalvia, meanwhile, is reasonably easy to spell, pronounce and define. What's the problem? There's a strong feeling of "I don't like it" in what you say. Sophie means wisdom (talk) 17:58, 12 October 2017 (UTC)

Definition of a clam

Is the definition of a clam a edible bivalve?

Are cockles, mussels oysters and scallops clams because they are edible?— Preceding unsigned comment added by Gyrkin (talk • contribs)

@Gyrkin: Did you look at the clam article at all? and for the third time at least, sign your posts!--Kevmin § 20:10, 12 October 2017 (UTC)

Gyrkin, I see that you are addressing the same issue from a different angle, but three different people have told you the two articles are not going to be merged. Sophie means wisdom (talk) 20:34, 12 October 2017 (UTC)

I don't ask for merging, you misread my intentions. I am now asking a different question.

Are cockles, mussels, oysters and scallops a type of clam?

What I am precisely asking if clams are a type of bivalve, which they are, does that mean that cockles, mussels, oysters and scallops are a subset of clams because they are edible bivalves. AND FROM WHAT I READ, THE DEFINITION OF A CLAM SEEMS TO BE A EDIBLE BIVALVE. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gyrkin (talk • contribs) 20:42, 12 October 2017 (UTC)

Your persistent refusal to sign your comments suggests you may prefer being combative rather than wanting clarification. Bivalvia is a scientific term. It is a taxonomic group of biological organisms, scientifically grouped on the basis of shared characteristics. Individual members of this group are called bivalves. These terms belong to scientific language and their use is controlled through scientific consensus. On the other hand, the term "clam" belongs to ordinary everyday language. It is a common name and not a scientific name, a vernacular or colloquial term which lacks the formal definition of a scientific term such as Bivalvia. It is not a taxon, but a term of convenience with little circumscriptional significance. As such, it is term whose use can change over time, and can also vary regionally so it means one thing in Britain and something a bit different in the USA. Within a given locality, different groups of people can also use the term somewhat differently. Chefs sometimes use the term clam differently from commercial fishermen. Roughly, if a bivalve is commercially important because people eat it, then it tends to be called a clam. But that doesn't mean you can define a clam as an edible bivalve, because most bivalves are edible and most are not called clams. The usage of the term varies regionally because the availability of bivalves depends on where you live in the world. Also, for cultural and historical reasons, different regions prefer eating some bivalves to others. Yet other variations occur just because common language usage can be perverse or capricious. That's why there is no simple answer to "what is a clam?". There is no straightforward definition like there is for a bivalve. It is more a matter of determining how the word clam is used in practice. And that can vary with time, place, and who is using it. --Epipelagic (talk) 10:12, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

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I want a better explanation of the left-and-right thing

I want to put a sentence in the first paragraph something like Evolutionarily speaking, this means that the animals lie on their side. I remember it took me quite a while to understand what was going on when I read in the article about brachiopods that the shells of brachiopods are historically top-and-bottom but bivalves have left-and-right. I thought maybe there was some animal somewhere that was like a sideways clam that I just didnt know about because they lived at the bottom of the sea. I would add this myself but I want to make sure there is not some tiny exception out there that would make my sentence scientifically inaccurate. Even so, I could add it with "most" or say "animals such as clams", etc. Any suggestions? 12:58, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

Unionacea?

We have a suspicious red link Unionacea. No entry in Wikidata. It may be a suborder (compare eg Corbiculacea)--Estopedist1 (talk) 12:48, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

Some sources call it a superfamily (and it may also be spelled "Unionaceae"). In another group of molluscs (Nautiloids), superfamilies ending in -aceae are apparently still being used (see e.g. Tainocerataceae), but this seems to be obsolete in bivalves. I don't think there's any harm in unlinking Unionacea from the one article where it is linked. Plantdrew (talk) 00:41, 19 October 2021 (UTC)

Plantdrew & Estopedist1 Actually Nautiloids use -oidea for the superfamilies, per the last update to the Treatise.--Kevmin § 19:51, 19 October 2021 (UTC)

Taxonomy and extant bivalves

I think these two sections should be merged, and taxonomies section showed before human use. What do you think? Theklan (talk) 08:59, 15 March 2023 (UTC)