Brief Summary
Distribution
Physical Description
Size
Identification Resources
Ecology
Local Distribution
Crypsis
Life History & Behaviour
Feeding
Burrowing
Chemosensory Perception
Reproduction and Larval Biology
Anatomy & Physiology
Morphology
Evolution & Systematics
Fossil History
Phylogeny
Biogeographic Distribution
Conservation & Threats
Human Threats
References & Links
|
BURROWING
Trough shells burrow into the soft sediment through contractions of the muscular foot as shown in Figure 1. The foot protudes out of the shell and penetrates into the substrate. The end of the muscular foot then widens to anchor the foot in the sediment. Contraction of the muscular foot drags the rest of the bivalve further down into the sediment. The foot then penetrates further into the sediment and anchors itself again before the muscle contracts again, dragging the body further into the sediment. The bivalve rocks itself back and forward to aid in the burrowing process. These steps are repeated a number of times, until it is completely buried.
Figure 1: The burrowing mechanism of a typical burrowing bivalve. (Adapted from Fox et al.)
Figure 2: The burrowing behaviour of M.rufescens.
Figure 3:
A close up of how the muscular foot is used to penetrate the substrate to burrow |
|