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The glossary provided here is largely based on “Seashells of Southern Florida: Bivalves,” by Paula M. Mikkelsen & Rüdiger Bieler, Princeton University Press. Production of this glossary was funded in part by the National Science Foundation’s Partnerships in Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy [PEET] Program, NSF-DEB-9978119, “Bivalves - Research, Training, Electronic Dissemination of Data” (1999-2008) to Bieler and Mikkelsen.
- BEAK
- See UMBO.
- BIFID
Divided into two parts by a groove, usually in reference to HINGE TEETH (figure: Periglypta listeri). - BRANCHIAL MEMBRANE/SEPTUM
- See SIPHONAL SEPTUM.
- BRANCHIAL SIEVE
- See SEPTIBRANCH.
- BRANCHIAL SIPHON
- See INCURRENT SIPHON.
- BUCCAL FUNNEL
Expanded trumpet-shaped mouth, occurring in such families as Verticordiidae, Poromyidae, and Cuspidariidae. - BYSSAL FASCIOLE
Filled-in track of the BYSSAL NOTCH retained on the external shell surface as the shell increases in size (figure: Similipecten nanus). - BYSSAL FORAMEN
- See BYSSAL NOTCH.
- BYSSAL GROOVE
- See BYSSUS.
- BYSSAL NOTCH
Rounded or trigonal embayment in the shell margin for passage of the BYSSUS when the shell is closed; called BYSSAL FORAMEN in Anomiidae (figure: Isognomon bicolor). - BYSSUS (pl. BYSSI)
Elastic fibers (or calcified, in Anomiidae) secreted by a gland in the FOOT, exiting through a ventral BYSSAL GROOVE, and used to anchor the animal to a hard substratum (figures: Pteriidae, Pteria colymbus).
