- Description
- Hammer oysters are hinged at the top of the "T" (in the picture), where a small byssus emerges at the back. The hinge is held by an oblique ligament rather than teeth, and the shell is partially nacreous. One might think of this oyster as having evolved the straight-edged hinge of the pearl oyster to an absurd length. A single large adductor muscle lies at the cross of the T, and the exhalant current is discharged at the hinge. Most live in the crevices of coral rocks or on reef flats, in tropical regions.
- Classification
- Class: Bivalvia
- Subclass: Pteriomorphia
- Order: Pterioida
- Superfamily: Pteriacea
- Family: Malleidae
- Superfamily: Pteriacea
- Order: Pterioida
- Subclass: Pteriomorphia
- Major Genera
- Genus: Malleus
- Genus: Malvimalleus
Maleus albus (Lamarck, 1819)
White Hammer Oyster
(a 25 cm specimen)