Limaria hians

Andy Horton December 2012 A massive colony of the Flame Shell, Limaria hians, has been discovered in Loch Alsh, a sea inlet between the Isle of Skye and the western Scottish mainland. The reef habitat covers an astonishing 4.6 sq miles (7.5 sq km) and was discovered during a survey commissioned by Marine Scotland. It is the largest known colony of Flame Shells in seas around the British Isles and possibly the world. Numbers of the bivalve mollusc exceed 100 million and they create their own specialised habitat with unique fauna.

Liz Morris I know that this is a long shot, but I came across this 'nest' of gravel (approx 10cm across) held together by what looked like terebellids when I was underwater. Someone since suggested that it could be a Limaria hians (flame shell) nest. I'm gutted that I'd slipped into deco when I spotted it in a new habitat, as otherwise I would have looked around for more and tried to tear one apart. Does anyone have any ideas?

Jan Light I'm not a diver but if you are saying that you saw long orange filaments/tentacles associated with this structure that would be compatible with the mollusc's anatomy. I've just searched for flame shell nest images on the web and it does not give a link for a gallery of photos but there are several documents which contain images, e.g. JNCC.

Liz Morris Thanks Jan... after some thinking I think I'll revert to my original idea of it being some kind of terebellid. I'll need to try and get back there and try to collect some and see if there are more. They seemed to make a very interesting structure. Thanks

Liz Morris ps - I seem to remember some of these clear 'byssus' being free and unattached, and I didnt see any orange filaments at all, hence why I'm reverting. Some reading tells me that a Limaria hummock is more 'hummocked' than matrixed as this structure was. Thanks though Jan.

Cynthia D. Trowbridge looks like terebellids to me

Liz Morris hi cynthia, do you know do many terebellids make matrices like this? ive been looking in my books so far but little info.

Cynthia D. Trowbridge In Lough Hyne, there is a terebellid that usually dwells under rocks (but not always) that makes its soft tubes out of misc. debris like this. I will look for some of my photos. Never keyed it out but the tentacles I can see in this photo look exactly like terebellid filiform ones.

Liz Morris Thanks Cynthia - I may cross post it to Porcupine to see if anyone else has any ideas. Thanks very much. Never dived Loch Hyne, but I'd love to!

Simon Taylor Doesn't look like a Lima clump to me so I'd go with the Terebellid theme as well.

Andy Horton MARINE LIFE NEWS BULLETIN TORPEDO (January 2013) Issue 192 ISSN 1464-8156 For technical reasons, TORPEDO is no longer being sent out by EMail. It is simply easier to view the bulletins on the web pages. Please find a copy of the bulletin at: http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Torpedo2013Jan.htm includes News Reports: Humpback Whale Reports Limaria hians colony in Loch Alsh Feature: Wrasse crosses from a noust Book Review: Vanishing Ocean Click on the book image for the full review Coastal Feature: South Stack at Anglesey Underlined text, images and buttons links to other infoirmation web pages. MARINE LIFE NEWS BULLETIN TORPEDO INDEX http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Torpedo2.htm

Metin Tuncer Limaria hians Yassıada-Marmara Sea / Turkey

Stuart Pearce Very nice shot :)

Metin Tuncer thnx Stuart (y)

Galina Maslova Beautiful

Ernst Andres 4 me a wonder…wonder…wonderful shot ! :-)

Metin Tuncer thnx Ernst Andres (y)

Annie Bodar splendide merci

Andy Horton

Andy Horton Has anybody got a Limaria hians photograph I can use on the news web page please? http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/UKBAP_BAPHabitats-15-FileShellBeds.pdf

Darryl Mayer Aye, what email address?

Andy Horton EMail is Glaucus@hotmail.com Please include any links you would like to be credited with

Darryl Mayer Done

Andy Horton Should be on the web page now: http://www.glaucus.org.uk/News2012Autumn.htm New years web site not yet created. The turn of the year means a lot of work.

Rudolf Svensen Another mussel. Image captured in Norway. I guess it was aprox 40 mm long.

Erling Svensen You better start reading my book, brother.... ;-) This one is Limea loscombi, same family as Limaria hians and the big Acesta excavata....

Rudolf Svensen øh, I only look at the images ;-) have so many images here to identify. Have been working with geckos from Italy today, so I am glad to get some help. Anyway the juvenile Aurelia is not in your book ;-)

Steve Wilkinson Are you sure. Seems quite big for this - and the shape looks a bit wrong. I woudl have gone for something like Musculus niger. See http://naturalhistory.museumwales.ac.uk/britishbivalves/browserecord.php?-recid=101