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Adamussium

Adamussium
Adamussium2.jpg
Antarctic scallop on the seabed under 5 meters of sea ice in the Ross Sea, Antarctica.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Ostreoida
Suborder: Pectinina
Superfamily: Pectinoidea
Family: Pectinidae
Genus: Adamussium
Thiele, 1934
Species: A. colbecki
Binomial name
Adamussium colbecki
(Smith, 1902)
Synonyms
  • Pecten colbecki Smith, 1902

Adamussium is a monotypic genus of bivalve molluscs in the large family of scallops, the Pectinidae. The Antarctic scallop (Adamussium colbecki) is the only species in the genus though its exact relationship to other members of the family is unclear. It is found in the ice-cold seas surrounding Antarctica, sometimes at great depths.

Adamussium colbecki is a large, slow-growing scallop that lives on the seabed. The shell consists of a pair of ribbed calcareous valves which enclose the soft body and are joined by a ligament at a hinge. It feeds on microscopic green algae and is sometimes present in great numbers. It is able to move around by flapping its valves and to dart backwards to escape threats. The species is an important member of the Antarctic seabed community as the upper valve often acts as a substrate for seaweeds, sponges and other organisms. In addition, juveniles bind themselves by threads to the upper valve of older shells, using these as a base for several years as they grow. The adult scallops have been used in research to study the accumulation of heavy metals in marine organisms.

The Antarctic scallop was first described by the British zoologist Edgar Albert Smith in 1902 as Pecten colbecki. He worked at the British Museum and was responsible for examining and describing shells from collections made over the years that had been deposited there. The German malacologist Johannes Thiele determined in 1934 that the characteristics of the Antarctic scallop were sufficiently different from those of other members of the genus Pecten to warrant its inclusion in a separate genus, Adamussium. More recently, examinations of the chromosome structure and of the of A. colbecki have been undertaken, but the exact phylogenetic relationship it has with other pectinids is still unclear.


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