Megapitaria aurantiaca

This is Megapitaria aurantiaca which is a type of sea shell and belongs to the veneridae family, in some areas this shell species is often known by the general name "venus shell", where we live this species often escapes the attention of the wider public and even though this shell has a very high value both in terms of ecology and economy, while the name "aurantiaca" comes from Latin which means orange and this term refers to the distinctive and striking color of the shell.

In our country, Indonesia, these clams are often found living on the muddy seabed. Like most other bivalve species, these clams also dig into the seabed substrate and live semi-embedded. Usually, these clams only leave the siphon part sticking out for eating and breathing purposes.

while from the biological side Megapitaria aurantiaca is included in the type of filter feeder animals which means they get their food by filtering plankton and also organic particles from sea water using their specialized gills, this process is not only important for the survival of the shellfish itself but also contributes to the health of the marine ecosystem as a whole, by filtering water, these shellfish help the clarity of the water and also the quality of the waters and control the plankton population naturally.

The life cycle of Megapitaria aurantiaca begins with the planktonic larval phase that swims freely in the sea and after going through several stages of metamorphosis the larvae will settle on the seabed and grow into adults and have the form as you see in the picture I shared today, Megapitaria aurantiaca can live for several years and has a high reproductive ability, they are able to produce millions of eggs in one spawning season, but the success rate of recruitment is greatly influenced by environmental conditions such as temperature, salinity and also food availability.