The respiratory system

In the primitive bivalves the paired gills are small and located posteriorly. The gills in all other bivalves (save septibranchs, which have lost their gills) are greatly enlarged and possess a huge surface area. While the gills are thought to serve a respiratory function, respiratory demands are low in these mostly inactive animals, and, since the body and mantle are both bathed in water, respiration probably takes place across these surfaces as well. Such a mechanism has been demonstrated for a few bivalves, most notably freshwater species that are exposed to occasional drought. In such species, drying induces slight shell gaping posteriorly, the mantle margins exposing themselves to air. For most intertidal bivalves (which are alternately exposed to wetting and drying), respiration all but ceases during the drying phase.

The vascular system

The heart, enclosed in a pericardium, comprises a medial ventricle with left and right auricles arising from it. Blood oxygenated within the ctenidia flows to the auricles and from there to the ventricle, where it is pumped into anterior and posterior aortas. The blood then enters hemocoelic spaces in the mantle and visceral mass and returns to the heart via the ctenidia or the kidneys. The blood serves both to transport oxygen and metabolic products to tissues deep within the body and as a hydrostatic skeleton (for example, in the extension of the foot during locomotion and siphons during feeding). There are amoeboid corpuscles, but, except in a few bivalves, no hemoglobin or other respiratory pigment occurs.

The reproductive system

The reproductive system is simple and comprises paired gonads. These gonads discharge into the renal duct in primitive bivalves but open by separate gonopores into the suprabranchial chamber in more modern bivalves. Typically, the sexes are separate, but various grades of hermaphroditism are not uncommon. Eggs and sperm are shed into the sea for external fertilization in most bivalves, but inhalation of sperm by a female permits a type of internal fertilization and brooding of young, usually within the ctenidia.

Features of defense and aggression

The most significant adaptation is the earliest division of the shell into two valves within which the animal was wholly contained. Slow components of the adductor muscle permit sustained adduction, while the interlocking hinge teeth prevent shear. In addition, the shell may be strongly ridged, forming an interlocking shell margin, and it may be concentrically ringed with spines or sharp ridges projecting outward. Posterior sense organs, including photophores and eyes, are developed around the siphons and mantle margins. Detection leads to withdrawal deep into the sediment by burrowing species. In such animals the shell is smooth and compressed. Scallops respond to predation by swimming; shallow-burrowing cockles can leap using the foot. In the razor clams the siphons can break off (autotomize) when bitten, to be regenerated later. Similarly, noxious secretions are produced by the similarly autotomizing long tentacles of the Limidae (file shells). The unique pallial organ of fan shells (family Pinnidae) produces a secretion of sulfuric acid when bitten.

Only the deepwater subclass Anomalodesmata (families Verticordiidae, Poromyidae, and Cuspidariidae) and the scallops are predators. Prey is captured either in the sudden rush of water into the mantle cavity or by the rapid eversion of the inhalant siphon.

Evolution and paleontology


By the Ordovician Period (488.3 million to 443.7 million years ago) most modern subclasses were represented by definable ancestors. The oldest Ordovician bivalves are, however, the subclass Palaeotaxodonta, which are thought to have given rise to the Cryptodonta by elongation. Modern assessment of their shell structure and body form, notably with the possession of posterior protobranch gills and with palp proboscides for deposit feeding in the Palaeotaxodonta, generally supports this view. An extinct subclass Actinodontia also arose in the Ordovician Period and may be represented today by the superfamily Trigonioidea (placed in the subclass Palaeoheterodonta), which are an aberrant group of the subclass Pteriomorphia. The remaining, more typical, members of the Pteriomorphia also arose at this time and persist today, still characteristically occupying a range of substrate types but with byssal attachment and a trend toward loss of the anterior adductor muscle. The common mussels (family Mytilidae) are thought to be derived from an extinct group, the family Modiomorphidae. The subclass Orthonotia also arose in the Ordovician Period and are the probable ancestors of the deep-burrowing razor shells (Solenoidea). The origins of the subclass Anomalodesmata are less clear, but they too arose in the Ordovician Period and may have links to the order Myoida, which presently includes deep-burrowing forms and borers. Representatives of the superfamily Lucinoidea are very different from all other bivalves, with an exhalant siphon only and an anterior inhalant stream. Some of these deposit feeders also possess, like the subclass Cryptodonta, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in the ctenidia and are thought to have ancient origins, represented by the fossil Babinka. Babinka is itself interesting and is closely related either to Fordilla, one of the oldest bivalves, or to the ancestors of the molluscan class Tryblidia. Today the superfamily Lucinoidea is generally placed within the subclass Heterodonta, which is a younger group that traces back to the Paleozoic Era, when the first radiation of all bivalves took place.

The stamp of modernity was placed upon the Bivalvia in the Mesozoic Era (251 million to 65.5 million years ago), when virtually all families currently recognized were present. Throughout time, the fortunes of the subclasses have waxed and waned, with repeated modification of form allowing repeated diversification into different habitats. Similarity of habitat is matched by similarity in structure and form, allowing for various interpretations of the fossil record. It is clear, however, that most modern bivalves can trace their ancestry back a long way and that the inherent plasticity of the bivalve form is responsible for the success of a molluscan experiment in lateral compression of the shell.


No system of classification erected for the Bivalvia has been accepted by all. Paleontologists interpret bivalves on the basis of shell features, notably shell and ligament structure, arrangement of hinge teeth, and body form as interpreted from internal muscle scars.

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Investigators of Holocene (11,700 years ago to the present) forms use other anatomic features, such as adductor muscle arrangement, the ctenidia and their junction with the labial palps, the extent and complexity of mantle fusion, stomach structure, and morphology of the hinge area to classify bivalves. Cluster analysis using many morphological features is effective with lower taxa but less so with higher taxonomic categories because of the many examples of parallel evolution from the basic bivalve plan. The triangular mussel form, for example, has evolved in representatives of virtually every subclass, resulting in similar morphologies. Shell microstructure and mineralogy evidence generally support paleontological conclusions that the class Bivalvia comprises six subclasses, recognizing, however, that some of these taxa may have more than one first ancestor (polyphyletic). In a group with a fossil history extending back to the Cambrian Period and occupying a wide range of aquatic habitats, this is not unexpected, particularly since the basic bivalved form permits repeated modification.

Annotated classification

Class Bivalvia
Laterally symmetrical; left and right calcareous shell valves; dorsal elastic hinge ligament; anterior and posterior adductor muscles; lateral paired filtering ctenidia surrounding the visceral mass; primitively burrowing by means of a muscular foot, but some crawl, some attach to rocks by byssal threads from the foot, some are cemented, and some bore into soft rocks, corals, and wood; some commensal, a few parasitic, and some deepwater species predatory; microphagous feeding; mostly marine, at all depths, also estuarine and freshwater; about 8,000 extant species.
Subclass Palaeotaxodonta (Protobranchia)
Numerous similar teeth along the hinge plate; isomyarian; unique shell microstructure of aragonitic composite prisms and internal nacre; posterior ctenidia comprising 2 divergent rows of flat, short, filaments; protobranch respiratory gill; food collected by labial palps; mostly near-surface-dwelling marine detritivores; considered to be the most primitive of living bivalves, if not the most ancient. About 500 living species.
Order Nuculoida
Equal shell valves with taxodont hinge teeth; isomyarian; posterior protobranch ctenidia; large labial palps usually with palp proboscides, which effect feeding; foot with flat sole; marine; unattached; infaunal. About 450 living species.
Subclass Cryptodonta
Hinge either weakly taxodont or edentulous; distinctive shell structure of aragonitic simple prisms and nacre internally; large posterior protobranch ctenidia; small labial palps; of primitive and ancient lineage; marine; unattached; infaunal.
Order Solemyoida
Shell valves equal and elongate, lacking hinge teeth, covered by a shiny periostracum; dimyarian or monomyarian; some with protobranch ctenidia containing symbiotic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria; minute palps; minute or absent gut; foot with flat sole; marginally papillate; marine; deep-burrowing; infaunal. About 35 species.
Subclass Pteriomorphia
Order Arcoida
Shell solid, elongate or circular-oval, often heavily ribbed; fibrous periostracum with simple crossed-lamellar outer layer and inner complex crossed-lamellar layer, thereby differing from all other pteriomorphs; dimyarian; hinge with vertical denticulations; ctenidia filibranch; mantle margin with uniquely divided outer fold; foot often byssate; marine; epibyssate; infaunal. About 150 species.
Order Trigonioida
Order Mytiloida (common mussels)
Shell equivalve, rounded, elongate or triangular depending on habits; anisomyarian tending toward monomyarian; hinge edentulous; shell microstructure of outer calcitic fibrous prisms and inner nacre; ctenidia filibranch; mantle margin lacking fusions; foot creeping; typically byssate; marine, estuarine, rarely freshwater; endobyssate and epibyssate. About 250 species.
Order Pterioida (pearl oysters and fan shells)
Shell equivalve, variably shaped; anisomyarian but often monomyarian; shell structure of outer simple calcitic prisms and inner nacre; ctenidia pseudolamellibranch, often plicate (deeply folded); mantle margin lacking fusions; foot reduced; marine; endobyssate or epibyssate. About 100 species.
Order Limoida
Shell equivalve, ovally elongate, ribbed, often thin and transparent, with outer foliated calcite and inner crossed-lamellar aragonitic layers; hinge short and edentulous; monomyarian; ctenidia pseudolamellibranch, encircling the adductor; palps small and lips of mouth variably fused; mantle margins unfused and often red, with long autotomizing tentacles; some swim weakly; marine; epibyssate with byssus sometimes formed into a nest. About 125 species.
Order Ostreoida (oysters and scallops)
Shell valves unequal, variable, typically lacking hinge teeth; shell structure of foliated calcite, upper valve with outer prismatic calcite; most scallops with inner crossed-lamellar layers; dimyarian but most monomyarian; ctenidia pseudolamellibranch; mantle fusions lacking; foot often lost in adult; scallops capable of swimming; some deepwater scallops predatory; marine; epibyssate; cemented by lower or left valve or free. About 600 species.
Subclass Palaeoheterodonta
Characterized by equal shell valves with a variable hinge dentition; aragonitic shell with outer prismatic and inner layers of nacre; most approximately isomyarian; ctenidia eulamellibranch; mantle fusions lacking, especially ventrally; complicated life cycles; wholly freshwater; nonbyssate; infaunal. About 1,200 species.
Order Unionoida
Large, equivalve, varying from round to elongate and with equally variable sculpture; shell of outer prismatic layer and inner layers of nacre; hinge schizodont; dimyarian; ctenidia eulamellibranch with either 1 or both demibranchs functioning as an incubatory marsupium; ovoviviparous; parasitically larviparous; freshwater; some cemented and oysterlike; mostly infaunal. About 1,200 species.
Subclass Heterodonta
Shell highly variable; hinge plate teeth may be reduced or absent; shell comprises crossed-lamellar, complex crossed-lamellar, or prismatic layers, but never nacreous; primitively isomyarian but with wide range of adductor muscle configurations; ctenidia eulamellibranch; mantle margins extensively fused, particularly posteriorly, often to form long inhalant and exhalant siphons; mostly marine but also estuarine and freshwater; some epibyssate, some bore soft rocks and wood; generally infaunal. About 4,000 species.
Order Veneroida
Shell typically equivalve and of outer crossed-lamellar and inner complex crossed-lamellar layers; hinge comprises radiating cardinal and lateral teeth, often weakly developed; adductor muscles of varying proportions according to habit; ctenidia eulamellibranch, mantle margins extensively fused, often developed into long siphons; most are active burrowers with a large foot; some epibyssate; mostly marine, some estuarine and freshwater; includes the poorly known miniature commensals and parasites; widely divergent, accounting for more than 30 percent of the extant bivalves. Approximately 3,000 species.
Order Myoida
Shell typically thin, equivalve, comprising either 2 or 3 layers; hinge plate with cardinal dentition, often degenerate; approximately isomyarian but with much variation; boring forms develop accessory shell plates; ctenidia eulamellibranch, mantle margins extensively fused and covered in periostracum; small foot; marine deep burrowers with long siphons but also rock-and wood-boring. About 400 species.
Subclass Anomalodesmata
Characterized by highly variable shell, either equivalve or inequivalve, often gaping either posteriorly or anteriorly; hinge plate thickened and enrolled but generally edentulous; shell of two or three layers, the inner nacreous; typically isomyarian but with wide variation; ctenidia either eulamellibranch and plicate or septibranch; mantle margins extensively fused, often covered in periostracum; foot reduced; siphons of variable length; consistently hermaphroditic; marine; mostly burrowing; some epibyssate or cemented. About 450 species.
Order Pholadomyoida
Shell more or less equivalve but of widely divergent form; shell comprises aragonitic prisms and nacre or homogeneous structures; typically isomyarian; ctenidia eulamellibranch and plicate but many deepwater species are septibranch; extensive mantle fusions, reduced foot and pedal gape; siphons of variable length; shallow-water forms are burrowing, nestling, epibyssate, or cemented suspension feeders; some deepwater forms are predators with exotic modifications to the bivalve plan.

Critical appraisal

Generally, the classification scheme is accepted up to the level of family and even superfamily. The arrangement of higher categories is, however, still debated. Some authors, for example, combine the subclasses Palaeotaxodonta and Cryptodonta into a single group of primitive detrivores with protobranch gills. Differences in shell structure, however, argue against this. Similarly, the order Arcoida is separated by some from the subclass Pteriomorphia; shell structure again supports this, but other anatomic features do not. The order Trigonioida traditionally has been located within the subclass Palaeoheterodonta, but this has also been disputed, anatomic features suggesting instead an affinity with the subclass Pteriomorphia. This means that the subclass Palaeoheterodonta comprises only the order Unionoida, which has come to occupy the freshwater domain exclusively. Some authors would prefer to relocate the order Myoida from the subclass Heterodonta into the subclass Anomalodesmata, arguing that the edentulous shell, extensive mantle fusions, and deep-burrowing habit are characteristics shared with early ancestors of the order Pholadomyoida. The subclass Anomalodesmata, however, is itself possibly too narrowly demarcated, and some authorities would, for example, separate the deepwater carnivorous septibranchs from the shallow-water pholadomyoids into their own order, the Septibranchoida.

This lack of classificatory agreement is not unusual with regard to a group that has adopted a simple sedentary, filter-feeding mode of life. Simplification and parallel evolution will lead to similarity in form, structure, and function. Debate in creating classificatory trees and reconstructing the historical record is thus about the relative significance of the fossil shell record, as there is little information on tissue morphology, and the importance of morphological data obtained from living representatives.

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