Malleus (bivalve) explained

Malleus is a genus of hammer oysters (marine bivalve mollusks) in the family Malleidae. This genus includes 27 known species.

Characteristic of this genus is the unusual "hammer-shaped" outline of the valves. The shells are nearly equivalved, but the hinge line is extremely long and is at nearly a right angle to the rest of the valves, which grow ventrally. The viscera of the organism are arranged in an oval-shaped patch near the umbones of the valves.^[1]

Species

• Malleus albus Lamarck, 1819
• Malleus anatinus (Gmelin, 1791)
• Malleus candeanus (d'Orbigny, 1853)
• Malleus daemoniacus Reeve, 1858
• Malleus legumen Reeve, 1858
• Malleus malleus (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Malleus meridianus Cotton, 1930
• Malleus regula (Forsskål in Niebuhr, 1775)

Notes and References

1. Book: Julia Ellen Rogers. Julia Ellen Rogers. The Shell Book: A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Families of Living Mollusks, and an Aid to the Identification of Shells Native and Foreign. 1913. Doubleday, Page. 399.