Anomia chinensis

Invasion History

First Non-native North American Tidal Record:
First Non-native West Coast Tidal Record:
First Non-native East/Gulf Coast Tidal Record:

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General Invasion History:

Anomia chinensis (Chinese Jingle Shell) is native to the Northwestern Pacific from Singapore to Korea and Japan (Tan and Woo 2010; Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 2011; Museum of Comparative Zoology 2011).

North American Invasion History:

Invasion History on the West Coast:

In the Northeast Pacific, A. chinensis was first found in Samish Bay, Skagit County (Puget Sound), Washington, in 1924, in areas where Pacific Oysters (Crasostrea gigas) had been planted (Hanna 1966; Carlton 1979). This shell was also found in Willapa Bay, Washington (Burch 1952, cited by Carlton 1979); and Tillamook Bay, Oregon (Carlton 1979). Carlton (1979) considered that the records were too few to determine whether this bivalve was established or not. However, the absence of any further records leads us to conclude that this species has failed to become established on the West coast.

Invasion History Elsewhere in the World:

In 1974, A. chinensis was found with newly transplanted Pacific Oysters (Crasostrea gigas) in Brittany, France. Again, no established populations are known (Goulletquer et al. 2002).

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Description

Anomiidae (Jingle Shells) are marine bivalves with thin, translucent shells. The lower (right) valve is flat and permanently attached to a hard substrate by a stalk-like byssus, which passes through a hole in the shell near the hinge (Morris 1975; Gosner 1978, Yamaguchi 1998). The upper (left) valve is dome-like. Specimens of A. chinensis vary from nearly circular to rather irregular, and 25-45 mm in diameter. Upper valves (in web photographs) tend to be yellow or gold, while lower valves are white. This bivalve commonly attaches to rocks, shells, wood, or man-made structures. Young shells are mobile for a time, but then the byssus becomes calcified and the bivalve is cemented in place (Yamaguchi 1998).

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Taxonomy

Ecology

General:

Adults of Anomia chinensis are firmly attached to hard substrates, such as rocks, shells, wood, and manmade structures (Yamaguchi 1998). These bivalves are suspension feeders and their larvae are planktotrophic. After settlement, postlarvae are mobile for a time, and then attach to a surface by a calcified byssus. Up to a size of 10 mm, they can detach from a surface, and reattach. As they develop further, their ability to change their position or orientation decreases (Yamaguchi 1998).

Food:

Phytoplankton, detritus

Trophic Status:

Suspension Feeder

SusFed

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Habitats

General Habitat	Oyster Reef	None
General Habitat	Marinas & Docks	None
General Habitat	Rocky	None
Salinity Range	Polyhaline	18-30 PSU
Salinity Range	Euhaline	30-40 PSU
Tidal Range	Subtidal	None
Tidal Range	Low Intertidal	None
Vertical Habitat	Epibenthic	None

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Tolerances and Life History Parameters

Broad Temperature Range	None	Cold temperate-Warm temperate
Broad Salinity Range	None	Polyhaline-Euhaline

General Impacts

Anomia chinensis has been introduced to several locations in the US and France with Pacific Oysters (Crasostrea gigas) from Japan, but has not become established. No impacts are known from introduced locations.

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References

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 2006-2014b OBIS Indo-Pacific Molluscan Database. <missing URL>



Carlton, James T. (1979) History, biogeography, and ecology of the introduced marine and estuarine invertebrates of the Pacific Coast of North America., Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Davis. Pp. 1-904

de Barros, Rodolfo Corrêa; da Rocha, Rosana Moreira (2021) Two new species of Styela (Tunicata: Ascidiacea) from the tropical West Atlantic Ocean, Zootaxa 4948: 276-286

Gosner, Kenneth L. (1978) A field guide to the Atlantic seashore., In: (Eds.) . , Boston. Pp. <missing location>

Goulletquer, Philippe; Bachelet, Guy; Sauriau, Pierre; Noel, Pierre (2002) Invasive aquatic species of Europe: Distribution, impacts, and management, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. Pp. 276-290

Hanna, G. Dallas (1966) Introduced mollusks of Western North America, Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 48: <missing location>

Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology 2008-2021 Museum of Comparative Zoology Collections database- Malacology Collection. <missing URL>



Morris, Percy A. (1975) A field guide to shells of the Atlantic, Houghton-Mifflin, Boston. Pp. <missing location>

Tan, Siong Kiat; Woo, Henrietta P. M. (2010) <missing title>, Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, Singapore. Pp. <missing location>

Yamaguchi, K. (1998) Cementation vs mobility: development of a cemented byssus and flexible mobility in Anomia chinensis, Marine Biology 132: 651-661

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