Seashells of Southern Florida: Living Marine Mollusks of the Florida Keys and Adjacent Regions: Bivalves

About the Book

Located where the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea converge, the Florida Keys are distinctive for their rich and varied marine fauna. The Keys are home to nearly sixty taxonomic families of bivalves such as clams and mussels--roughly half the world's bivalve family diversity. The first in a series of three volumes on the molluscan fauna of the Keys and adjacent regions, Seashells of Southern Florida: Bivalves provides a comprehensive treatment of these bivalves, and also serves as a comparative anatomical guide to bivalve diversity worldwide. Paula Mikkelsen and Rudiger Bieler cover more than three hundred species of bivalves, including clams, scallops, oysters, mussels, shipworms, jewel boxes, tellins, and many lesser-known groups. For each family they select an exemplar species and illustrate its shell and anatomical features in detail. They describe habitat and other relevant information, and accompany each species account with high-resolution shell photographs of other family members. Text and images combine to present species--to family-level characteristics in a complete way never before seen.The book includes fifteen hundred mostly color photographs and images of shells, underwater habitats, bivalves in situ, original anatomical and hinge drawings, scanning electron micrographs, and unique transparent--shell illustrations with major organ systems color-coded and clearly shown. Seashells of Southern Florida: Bivalves is the most complete guide to subtropical bivalves available. It is an essential tool for students and teachers of molluscan diversity and systematics, and an indispensable identification guide for collectors, scuba divers, naturalists, environmental consultants, and natural-resource managers.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction 1 Florida Keys 1 Natural History 1 Need for Protection 2 Florida Keys Bivalves 3 Habitats 3 History of Exploration and the Florida Keys Molluscan Diversity Project 5 Using This Book 6 Bivalve Morphology 11 Recent Bivalve Families of the World 18 The Florida Keys Bivalves 24 Nuculidae 24 Solemyidae 30 Manzanellidae 35 Nuculanidae 38 Yoldiidae 44 Arcidae 48 Noetiidae 58 Glycymerididae 62 Limopsidae 68 Philobryidae 74 Mytilidae 78 Pteriidae 92 Isognomonidae 98 Malleidae 104 Ostreidae 108 Gryphaeidae 114 Pinnidae 120 Limidae 126 Pectinidae 134 Propeamussiidae 148 Spondylidae 154 Plicatulidae 158 Anomiidae 162 Crassatellidae 166 Astartidae 172 Carditidae 176 Condylocardiidae 182 Pandoridae 186 Lyonsiidae 192 Periplomatidae 196 Spheniopsidae 200 Thraciidae 204 Verticordiidae 208 Poromyidae 214 Cuspidariidae 220 Lucinidae 228 Ungulinidae 240 Thyasiridae 246 Chamidae 250 Lasaeidae 258 Hiatellidae 264 Gastrochaenidae 268 Trapezidae 274 Sportellidae 279 Corbiculidae 284 Cardiidae 288 Veneridae 300 Tellinidae 322 Donacidae 340 Psammobiidae 344 Semelidae 350 Solecurtidae 358 Pharidae 364 Mactridae 368 Dreissenidae 374 Myidae 378 Corbulidae 382 Pholadidae 388 Teredinidae 396 Acknowledgments 409 A Note About Shell Collecting 411 A Note on Species Names Introduced by d'Orbigny 413 Illustrated Glossary of Bivalve Terms 415 General Literature Cited and Suggested Reading 449 Image Data and Credits 455 Index 481

About the Author :

Paula M. Mikkelsen is a marine biologist and director of publications at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, New York. Rdiger Bieler is an evolutionary biologist and curator of invertebrates at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. They are the coauthors of Pearls: A Natural History.

Review :
"This handsome volume, the first of a projected three-volume work on the mollusks of the Florida Keys, sets an admirable precedent. Mikkelsen and Rudiger have probably created the best illustrated and most detailed of any marine identification work so far published...[T]his is an important reference work that belongs in the library of any institution that offers courses in marine biology."--J.C. Briggs, Choice "All marine bivalve enthusiasts should purchase this book, regardless of their home port. The anatomical drawings, illustrated glossary and good photographs will be useful worldwide. In addition, I would strongly recommend this book to all malacologists and shell collectors. It just might entice them to take the plunge into the exciting, if not tumultuous, world of bivalve taxonomy."--Paul Valentich-Scott, The Festivus