| Geographic Range |
Mediterranean and Caspian Sea, East Atlantic. |
| Physical Characteristics |
the shell has very evident concentric ridges,
that represent the growing rings. It can be of different colours: brown,
whitish, gray, with brith or brown spots and strips. |
| Behaviour |
it lives under the sand. |
| Notes |
at the end of the first year of living it
is already able to reproduce, while it reaches commercial size around second
- third year. |
| Habitat |
it can be found in sandy or muddy bottoms
up to a depth of 15 meters. |
| Food habits |
water enters form the inhaling siphon, passes
through the gills where it is filtered to keep the nutriment in form of
organic particles and plancton, then in cames out form the exhaling siphon. |
| Reproduction |
reproductive cycle begins in spring and goes
on till the end of summer. Sexes are separated, emitted gametes are fertilized
in the water and two planktonic larval forms follow one another. Afterwards
larva settles on the bottom and, one month after birth, benthic life begins. |
Chamelea gallina
