The main types of shellfish. Shellfish are the most interesting

Chamelea gallina (Linne, 1758)
Syn. Venus gallina

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Type: Mollusca (shellfish)

Class: Bivalvia (bivalve)

Order: Veneroida

Family: Veneridae

Genus: Chamelea

Specimen: Chamelea gallina

It was this species, described by Carl Linnaeus as Venus gallina - the sea Venerka, that gave the name to the whole order Venerida, numbering 29 modern families.

The shell is rounded-triangular, with small tops, strongly shifted forward. Ribs frequent, irregular, sometimes there are additional ribs in the back. In addition, the ribs often branch out. The color is white with three broad brownish radial stripes. The inner surface is white with a wide purple spot at the back.

Shell length up to 43 mm, height up to 39 mm, width up to 24 mm.

In the Black Sea, it is common at a depth of 4 - 55 m, mainly on the sand. It is also found in the Sea of ​​Azov.

The species is common in the Mediterranean, Aegean, Black and Azov Seas.

On the beaches in the Blagoveshchenka area, there are classic colors (in the first two photos), as well as without stripes, almost white or with a bluish blurred stripe (next two photos). Vanes of a monochromatic red color are quite common (the last two photos). The shape of the shells is the same everywhere, they differ only in color. Most of the shells are colored like classic veneres (with brown stripes), whites and rusty are much smaller. I don’t know if all these venus are of the same species. They are the same in the shape of the shell, differing only in color.

The seafood restaurant market is currently at its peak. This trend is especially well traced in the example of molluscs. If a few years ago they were associated mainly with an exquisite delicacy served only in respectable establishments for sophisticated gourmets, today these seafood constitute an obligatory assortment of almost all establishments, from gourmet restaurants to democratic bars and cafes.

Popular class

The most popular among catering enterprises are representatives of the class bivalve molluscs, where about 30 thousand of their species of freshwater and marine life are presented. Their shells consist of two halves covering the body; on the dorsal side of the valve they are connected by an elastic bridge - a ligament, and from the inside - by one or two locking muscles. In most of these mollusks, the thickened dorsal edge of the valves bears special protrusions - teeth, the combination of which forms the so-called lock. The body of bivalve molluscs is covered with a mantle - two leather folds that line the valves from the inside, and a cavity called the mantle remains between the folds and the body. On the abdominal side of the body there is a muscular outgrowth - a leg.

The most popular members of this class of molluscs are oysters. Their size usually ranges from 5 to 15 centimeters, but individuals of some species grow up to 45 centimeters. Oysters live in the intertidal zone and in shallow coastal waters, but they can also be found at depths of up to 60 meters. Although oysters are artificially bred and can be ordered at any time of the year, they are tastiest between September and April.

Conventionally, these mollusks are divided into two main types. Flat oysters inhabit the shoals along the Atlantic coast and Mediterranean Sea... Deep oysters from the Pacific Ocean are usually further subdivided into fines and speciales, depending on the ratio of the total volume of the oyster to the mass of meat and juice. In order to bring the taste of selected oysters to perfection, the mollusks are placed in a tank with clean sea water and algae for a month, and special ones for at least two. After such a procedure, they are already classified as fine de claires and less salty speciales de claires. Most restaurants prefer to work with just such oysters.

- The quality of these molluscs is checked as follows. If they have tightly closed valves, this is a sign that the oyster is alive. If the flaps are slightly open, you need to lightly knock on the sink, it slams shut - it means the oyster is in excellent fresh condition,- says Alexey Shashkov, head of the sales department at La Maree. - Otherwise, empty shells with spilled juice and dry contents can be easily distinguished by sound. As for the smell, a quality oyster only smells like the sea. At the same time, there should be no chips or cracks on the sink. Pre-wash oyster shells in cold water, and two minutes before serving, open it with a special knife. You need to put the tip of the knife to the base and press it firmly and evenly, like a lever, until the resistance of the muscles of the mollusk is broken. This should be done carefully, try to make the knife go as close to the surface of the sash as possible and not damage the tender meat: it must remain intact, otherwise it will lose some taste.

-Despite the fact that there are many ways to prepare oysters, true gourmets prefer the classic one, in which shellfish are served fresh on open doors on a special plate or tray on crushed ice , - says Dmitry Gudin, chef of the Rybny Bazar restaurant. - Squeeze a little on the oyster lemon juice and eat with a fork, holding it in right hand and the sink is on the left. In addition, a dessert plate with butter, warmed rye bread and lemon slices, and a pepper mill are usually offered. In addition, oysters can be baked in dough, breaded for a delicious crust, smoked, fried on a thin skewer, grilled, seasoned with marjoram, fine raisins, onions, beans, saffron and dry wine.

Often, after opening the shells of the mollusks, they are left on a deep flap, sprinkled with salt and grated Roquefort cheese, poured with melted butter and baked in an oven for 5 to 7 minutes.

Mussels are mollusks with a triangular-rounded shell up to 15 cm long, the crown of which coincides with its front end. Due to the lower cost and similar nutritional properties mussels are sometimes called "oysters for the poor." According to Alexei Shashkov, the largest Spanish unpeeled molluscs are in greatest demand, with algae and growths present on their valves. Further on the level of demand are smaller peeled Canadian mussels, and the miniature French mussels Boucher close the list of consumer preferences. Mussels are especially good from mid June to late February. In April - May, they are not fat enough.

- If earlier it took a long time to clean mussels from growths and rinse them thoroughly, now these mollusks can be supplied already in vacuum bags with sea water with a shelf life of 5-6 days,- says Dmitry Gudin. - To open the sink, you need to dip it in boiling water for a few minutes, and then open it with special tweezers. They hold the mollusk on a plate, and use a fork to remove its meat from the shell. You can determine the quality of the mussel as follows: if the shell in boiling water has opened and a clam leg appears from there, it should be pricked with a sharp object - he must hide his leg in the shell. If the mussel does not react in any way, this means that it should not be eaten. Although mussels can be eaten raw by opening the shell and sprinkling the contents with lemon juice, they are often served after being cooked. To cook fried mussels, they should be washed, opened with a sharp knife, removed from the sinks, washed and dried again. Mussels with cheese, herbs and cream sauce are baked in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes.

The scallop is the largest and most valuable bivalve mollusk, the body of which is located between the shell valves and is covered with a dense film - the mantle, and the muscle that closes them is attached to the valves. It is a mollusc with a rounded shell with ears, a thickened upper valve and a convex lower valve, covered with wide radial ribs.

There are coastal, Japanese and North American commercial scallops, which are supplied live or frozen, as well as in brine. For example, La Maree company brings live scallop in shells and its chilled fillet in its own juice from France, and frozen meat comes from Canada and Sakhalin. The company classifies these shellfish by the number of pieces per kilogram. The largest size is a package for 10 - 20 pieces, followed by packages for 20 - 30 and 30 - 40 pieces, respectively. The edible parts of the scallop include the lean white muscle (adductor) holding the leaflets together, and the caviar sac, which contains large amounts of riboflavin and pantothenic acid.

- In order to check the quality of the scallop, it must be placed in a quiet place,- Dmitry Gudin notes. - A healthy clam should open the shell and close it at the first sign of danger. The scallops in sinks should be lined with damp seaweed and stored in a cold room. Despite the fact that many countries use fresh Mediterranean scallops, I prefer the more tender, peeled white Canadian scallops in their own juice, supplied in transparent containers. Orange scallop caviar should be bright and moist. You can boil a scallop in a small amount of dry white wine with added spices and roots, given that prolonged cooking noticeably worsens the taste of the meat, which becomes coarser and harder. It can also be lightly fried on both sides and served with fish broth or cream or butter sauce. However, these clams are served fresh, right in the sink, which in itself is a wonderful decoration for the dish.

More exotic and rarely ordered by catering establishments bivalve molluscs include the couteaux (sea knife), which has an oblong shape, a veneer with ribbed valves of light gray color, the size of a medium Walnut and the heart-lobe, whose body is enclosed in small cream-colored shells.

Multi-legged classic

Cephalopods (about 800 species), which are exclusively marine inhabitants, are divided into two orders: octopuses and decapods, which include squid and cuttlefish. In these mollusks, one part of the leg is transformed into a tentacle with suction cups located on the head and surrounding the mouth opening, while the other forms a funnel. The most popular representatives of this class are squids, which have a symmetrical fusiform body 25-50 cm long. It consists of a head, at the front end of which there is a mouth, surrounded by five pairs of tentacles equipped with many suction cups, and a body, dressed in a muscular mantle with fins on the back. end. The shell in the form of a narrow horny plate is hidden under the mantle.

There is a large pocket on the ventral side of the body, from where the squid eject ink liquid. The edible parts of the squid are the torso and tentacles, which serve as a source of complete proteins, essential amino acids and a complex of vitamins.

- You can determine the quality of squid by color. If their white-gray meat acquires a pinkish-reddish hue, then it can no longer be eaten. Chilled squid brought by us from North Africa(Tunisia, Morocco) and France are classified in this way. Large molluscs include those whose weight is 500 g or more. Medium-sized squids weigh 250 - 350 g, and mini - 50 - 100 g. The weight of frozen squid, which does not have a clear calibration, is about 250 - 350 g, - notes Alexey Shashkov.

And in the company "Marr Russia" for squid there are two options for deliveries - U5 and U10 (up to 5 and up to 10 pieces per kilogram). In addition, they are going to introduce a new position here - mini-squids (about 60 - 100 pieces per kg).

Squids can be offered to catering establishments cut into fillets (head, tentacles, viscera, chitinous plate removed, mantle cut, abdominal cavity cleaned) and in the form of a carcass (head with tentacles and entrails removed, whole mantle, remnants of viscera and chitinous plate may be left behind) ...

You can remove the skin from the squid thermally - the mollusks are immersed in boiling water for 30 seconds and stirred vigorously. You can also remove the skin from the squid by hand. This method is more laborious, but does not cause loss of minerals. Squids can be gutted without disturbing the integrity of the mantle, which is convenient for stuffing. To do this, break the ligament between the mantle and the head part, separating the head together with the entrails with a light jerk. You just need to be careful not to damage the ink sac, which contains a dark brown liquid, from which the squid meat can turn black. Then the eyes, beak and insides of the head are separated, and the chitinous plates are removed from the mantle. After that, the cut squids are washed in running water. Also, when cutting squid, you can make an incision in the body along the mantle from the abdomen, carefully to avoid damage to the ink sac, bend the walls of the mantle and remove the insides, chitinous plates, head, eyes and beak.

- Usually small squids are stuffed and cooked whole, while large ones can be chopped, fried and served with hot sauces, - says Aleksey Golovchenko, chef of the Crab House restaurant. - In order to preserve everything as fully as possible nutrients shellfish, to give it excellent taste and dietary value, gentle processing techniques are used. For cooking peeled squid, they are placed in salted boiling water, brought to a boil and cooked with low heat for 3-5 minutes. Longer cooking times are not recommended as the meat becomes tough, tasteless and less nutritious. To fry squid in oil, you will need to separate the tentacles, remove the insides and remove the film from the meat. Next, the mollusk needs to be cut into several pieces, sprinkled evenly with salt, black pepper and, lightly rolled in flour, fry in boiling oil until golden brown.

Cuttlefish have a body up to 34 cm long with a more flattened body than squid, surrounded by an elongated oval mantle with narrow fins on the sides, as well as a head with a funnel, four pairs of limbs and one pair of tentacles with suction cups.

Cuttlefish can be supplied either gutted with a head and tentacles, or without them in the form of fillets with a stripped abdominal cavity, a cut mantle and removed entrails, eyes, beak, chitinous plates, suckers on the tentacles. The meat of this mollusk should be free of foreign taste and smell, dense, but not hard consistency and have a color with a pink skin with a purple or brown tint.

- In our restaurant, cuttlefish are marinated in soy sauce with garlic and olive oil, flavored with thyme and rosemary and, after seasoned with parmesan cheese, baked in a frying pan - notes Dmitry Gudin. - Before serving, they are garnished with arugula salad and fresh tomatoes... As for octopuses, these mollusks have an oblong-rounded body without fins, consisting of a saccular body and a large head, on the front of which there are eight tentacles equipped with suction cups in two rows.

Each national cuisine has its own peculiarities of the preparation of this mollusk. For example, in Maltese cuisine they prefer fried or stewed octopus, in Cypriot - fresh shellfish salad, in Portuguese - the most popular dish is "Feijoada octopus", and in Korean - octopus pho, consisting of dried meat cut into pieces of various shapes ...

- According to an old recipe, it is customary to cook these mollusks together with wooden wine corks, which not only give a unique aroma, but can also absorb all extraneous odors,- notes Alexey Golovchenko. - And the Japanese beat off the octopus tentacles with a daikon to make its meat more tender. Depending on the size, the shellfish is cooked from 20 to 40 minutes, and then, after cutting, head goes in a salad, and the tentacles are additionally fried and can enter the section of hot snacks.

Exotic variations

As for the class gastropods(about 90 thousand species), then in these inhabitants of sea, fresh water and land, the body is divided into a head with tentacles and a pair of eyes, an inner sac covering its spirally twisted shell with a height of 0.5 mm to 70 cm, and a leg. The most prominent representatives of this class are snails, which are considered mature when a thickening - a lip - forms at the base of the shell. Until the snails are ripe, their shells can be easily damaged.

To prepare live snails for culinary processing, it is necessary to remove the membranes, if any. Then they should be rinsed several times under running water to remove mucus, and placed in salted boiling water, to which you can add lemon juice. Cook them for 10 to 15 minutes until they can be easily removed from the sinks. Traditional way mucus removal consists in rubbing the snail with wood ash or flour and then washing it under running water. The snails are taken from the dish with special tongs so that the curl is in the recess with the hole up. With the help of sharp bent teeth of a special fork, remove the meat, put it in a spoon and pour over the sauce remaining in the sink. The most popular varieties of snails are Bulots and Claris.

- It is quite difficult to work with fresh snails, since they can be stored without loss of consumer qualities for a maximum of two days- says Alexey Golovchenko. - As a rule, they are boiled right in the sinks for 10 to 60 minutes, depending on the size. If the meat is overcooked, it will become tough and smell bad. Therefore, I prefer to deal with canned burgundy snails, which I blanch in cognac and bake with mushrooms or spinach and butter.

Other representatives of the class of gastropods are trumpeters, widely represented in continental shelf Far Eastern seas, where about 40 species of them live. Their delicious meat is ideally absorbed by the body and is a source of complete proteins and microelements. Therefore, the use of the trumpeter in dietary food is due to its exceptional taste and high organoleptic characteristics. The trumpeter contains a lot of iodine and fluoride, therefore it serves as a prophylactic agent for caries and a lack of vitamins A and C. The body weight of this mollusk is 55 - 60 percent, and the edible part is 27 - 34 percent of the total mass.

Promising segment

Despite the fact that the Russian seafood restaurant market has undergone quite serious changes since its inception, the situation has returned to normal recently. This can be judged at least by the absence of significant fluctuations in shellfish prices, which have not changed over a fairly long period of time.

More and more establishments began to appear, preferring to work only with fresh seafood. As a result, shellfish have ceased to be the lot of expensive restaurants specializing in Mediterranean or Japanese cuisine... Recently, they have been increasingly ordered by establishments where there are very few fish positions on the menu. A steady demand exists mainly for bivalve molluscs - oysters and mussels, which began to be preferred and more democratic establishments, including beer restaurants, which is explained by taste preferences their regulars.

The main supplier of shellfish is France, from where we bring oysters, snails, mussels twice a week by plane and try to deliver them to our customers during Wednesday and Saturday. Suppliers buy something at the fish market in France, and a number of items have to be ordered directly from shellfish fishers.

There is not much competition among the companies engaged in the supply of fresh seafood, since a number of force majeure factors have to be taken into account. It should always be remembered that the sales period for fresh chilled shellfish should not exceed 5 days. Bivalve molluscs need to be stored in aquariums, where sea salt is added to the constantly circulating water, and the same squids and octopuses should be covered with ice and kept in foam boxes that keep the required temperature well .

- Specificity Russian market shellfish is the predominance of foreign products on it,- notes Alexey Shashkov. - Seafood local origin often do not satisfy restaurateurs due to the instability of quality and delivery times. Therefore, the lion's share of suppliers work with a more unpretentious "freeze" and only a few units undertake the delivery of chilled products. This is partly why 80 percent of the shellfish market is frozen, and only 20 percent is fresh seafood. In the West, chilled shellfish have a significantly larger share of the restaurant supply market. Of the domestic products, our company imports only scallop fillets (Murmansk and Far East), which are mainly used by restaurateurs to prepare sushi and seafood salads. All other items - mussels, scallops, squids, octopuses and cuttlefish - we bring from abroad, where all the mollusks have undergone preliminary heat treatment by shock freezing (-40 ... -60 ° C) and are as ready for use as possible. Since we cooperate with an Italian company leading in the delivery of food to restaurants, we transport the main flow of products by road from its warehouses, where fish positions come from all sea regions of the world. The constant assortment includes only those positions that are in stable demand..

As a rule, seafood is packaged in kilogram cellophane bags of 10 - 12 pieces per box and frozen individually or in blocks. The first, more expensive option of freezing is much more practical, since it allows you to defrost the amount of shellfish strictly necessary for cooking. The main thing is to control that frozen shellfish after defrosting are not subjected to re-freezing. Otherwise, they stick together and lose their original presentation and taste.

- Despite the fact that the "freeze" can be stored without losing its consumer qualities for two years, we try to ensure that the products do not stale in the warehouse, there is a constant rotation of positions and within three months it has reached customers,- notes Alexander Marudov, manager of the purchasing department (fish direction) of the company "Marr Russia". - A kind of reference point for restaurateurs, testifying to the stable high quality products, are information about the region of the catch of shellfish. In particular, our company offers scallops from Ireland, blue mussels caught off the coast of Spain, Gigint Kiwi mussels from New Zealand, squids from Spain, Thailand and Morocco, octopuses from Vietnam and Spain,

There is no tendency to expand the range of offers from suppliers and the emergence of exotic shellfish, since once and for all a compiled menu presupposes not only the use of products of a certain quality and calibration, but also an effective timing of the preparatory process and the chef's habits. In addition, the conservative tastes of restaurateurs are largely due to uncertainty about the timeliness of deliveries of shellfish that have not yet been promoted on the market and the stable quality of their processing.

- Since fresh shellfish are stored for about three days, working with a wide assortment is unprofitable for an expensive restaurant with an extremely unevenly distributed traffic throughout the day,- notes Alexey Golovchenko. “Therefore, these seafood often do not stand out as independent menu items, but act as auxiliary ingredients for other seafood dishes. So, in our restaurant, some bivalve molluscs are used for cooking signature dish assorted "Imperial", which includes about 12 types of seafood and which has enjoyed constant success since the opening of our restaurant for more than six years.

Anyone who rested on the Black Sea coast knows that in addition to sand and stones on the beach, you can often find shells turned by the surf.

Some are split into the smallest shards, some are very well preserved. All these are shells of marine life - molluscs.

If algae can be called the lungs of the sea, and its orderlies, then mollusks are its kidneys and liver.

As these organs in the human body perform the function of cleaning from harmful substances, so mollusks play the role of living filters, purifying water from microscopic organisms suspended in it.

What for? You ask.

They just eat them. Single-celled algae, plankton, bacteria, organic debris and other biomass serve as food for molluscs.

In addition, some mollusks do not hesitate to eat larger food: dead fish and their relatives.

All molluscs of the Black Sea can be divided into bivalves and gastropods.

Bivalve molluscs, as the name implies, protect their body with a shell, which consists of two valves. Most often lead sedentary life, attaching to a solid surface with strong threads.

Gastropods very much resemble land snails... Their abdominal part, in addition to the main functions, is the leg. With its help, they move and use it to attack other mollusks.

Of the bivalve molluscs, perhaps the most famous are the mussel and oyster.

In the recent past, one of the most common types of the Black Sea.

The shell looks like a drop of black or dark purple color, which tapers towards the place of attachment and has a length of up to 15 cm

It inhabits colonies at depths from 0 to 80 meters. Leads a sedentary lifestyle, attaching itself to stones, piles, flooded structures and other underwater objects.

It feeds mainly on unicellular algae, organic debris and bacteria. Lives up to 8 years.

Since ancient times it has been used by humans for food. For these purposes, mussel is bred in special mussel farms.

Recently, in nature, it has become less common and on great depths... This is mainly due to the poaching and extermination of its rapa.

It has a shell up to 8 cm long with irregular valves and scaly growths. The color, depending on the habitat, can be from pale green to dirty gray.

It inhabits colonies at depths from 3 to 60 meters. Leads a sedentary lifestyle, attaching itself to underwater objects.

The diet of oysters includes mainly algae and unicellular organisms. Lives up to 30 years.

It was once an object of commercial fishing due to its taste and dietary qualities, but in recent decades it has been practically exterminated in the Black Sea.

Currently listed in the Red Book.

- bivalve mollusk with a fan-shaped shell up to 6 cm long. The color can be from white to red and brown.

Habitat: depths of 40 - 60 meters. Unlike other bivalves, it is able to move perfectly, slamming the doors with force.

It feeds on plankton and detritus, filtering water through itself. Lives up to 18 years.

Due to its small size and small numbers, it has no commercial value, although it has good taste.

Relatively recently appeared in the Black Sea. It is believed that it was introduced by accident from the Atlantic or the Sea of ​​Japan, where it is a common species.

The bivalve shell has the shape of an ellipse from off-white to yellow-brown color, up to 10 cm long.

Lives apart, or in small groups, at depths from 0 to 20 meters. Prefers sandy or silty soil. It is buried to a depth of half a meter, exposing a siphon to the surface, with the help of which it breathes and feeds.

It feeds on organic debris, protozoa, small crustaceans and algae. Lives up to 20 years.

Along with mussel, it is the main type of fishing. Artificially grown in sandy shallow waters.

- bivalve mollusk, also recently appeared in the Black Sea. Introduced, presumably from the Pacific Basin in the last century.

The shell of the skafark has a convex fan-shaped shape with thick valves and serrated edges. The shell can be up to 8 cm long.

Coloring from white to dark gray.

This is one of the few mollusks with red blood, for which it is called a bloody shell.

It inhabits at a depth of up to 10 meters, forming clusters with a high density.

The diet includes small plankton, unicellular organisms and algae. Lives up to 9 years.

It is not used in commercial fishing, but it has excellent taste. It is a favorite delicacy in Japan and Korea.

Can move by bouncing with a strong leg. With its help, it can bury itself in silt or sand to a shallow depth.

The shell resembles a heart, hence the name of the mollusk, up to 4 cm long from white to brownish-green.

Lives at depths from 2 to 40 meters

It feeds by filtering organic particles, algae and plankton from the water. Lives up to 10 years.

Non-commercial species, but edible and serves as food for benthic fish.

Venerka- a mollusk widespread in the Black Sea. It has a massive triangular shell with rounded edges, up to 4 cm long. The color varies from white to brown.

Inhabits at depths from 0 to 30 meters. It can move with a wedge-shaped leg and bury itself in sand or silt to a shallow depth.

It feeds on settling organic residues, which it filters out from the water. Lives on average up to 30 years, although some non-Black Sea species live up to 400!

It is edible, but it is not an object of fishing due to its small size.

Rapana- an invader brought from Of the Far East, having no natural enemies in the Black Sea, became very widespread.

This gastropod mollusk has a thick and strong shell up to 12 cm in diameter with a reddish-brown color.

Inhabits at depths from half a meter to 40 meters on soils from rocky to silty-sandy, where in winter time is buried.

A predator by nature. It feeds on bivalve molluscs, drilling a hole in their shells with the help of the tongue or opening their valves with a strong foot.

Very prolific. The female lays up to 300,000 eggs at a time. Lives up to 12 years.

As already mentioned, it has no natural enemies, except for humans. It is widely used in commercial and amateur fishing.

Gibbula has a conical shell up to 25 mm high and up to 20 mm wide, green, yellowish with red specks.

Feeds on plant food, unicellular algae and organic debris.

Lives at shallow depths in coastal zone, mainly on the algae that it feeds on.

Littorina- the small shell of this gastropod mollusk, often no more than 10 mm, with a light gray to reddish brown color, also has a cone-shaped shape.

Occurs at the water's edge, on coastal rocks and rocks. Long time can do without water.

It feeds on aquatic vegetation and organic matter residues.

Calipra has a cap-shaped shell, almost regular rounded, up to 3 cm in size.

Coloring from yellowish to dirty purple.

It inhabits sandy and shell soils at depths from 2 to 70 meters.

It feeds on bottom sediments and plant food.

Citarella- a gastropod mollusk living at depths from 5 to 50 meters.

Has a spirally twisted, thick-walled shell up to 1 cm long

The color is light brown.

Inhabits sandy ground. A rare mollusk listed in the Red Book.

I think it's not worth listing all, about 200 species, of mollusks, but the most famous in front of you.

P. S... If you have any questions after reading the article, do not hesitate to ask in the comments.

P. P. S... You can familiarize yourself with the topics that will be revealed in the near future at.

The round and slightly elongated mollusk of the venere (vongole) or vongole belongs to mollusks with dicotyledonous valves. There are two types of mollusk the vener, they live in the Mediterranean Sea.

Molluscs that are smaller in size are called cockerels or vongole comuni. The large Vongole clam is called Japanese trellised veraci or vongole veraci, and they are also divided into several species. The main difference between the subspecies of Japanese trellis molluscs is the habitat of each of the subspecies. Outwardly, these subspecies differ from each other only by the shade of the shell color and the pattern. The color of the mollusc shell valves can be from bluish to brown. The vener mollusk is small in size, its shell does not exceed 5 centimeters. Inside is the body and the mantle. The clam does not have a head, but it has one leg for the vongole to move around.

The mollusk of the vener lives at a depth exceeding 10 meters. Vongole clam is collected at low tide, on the shores of the Tyrrhenian, Adriatic seas. The most popular vongole among the Italians.

It is worth noting that the main difference between all subspecies of Japanese trellis molluscs is their habitat. Even experts with the naked eye will not be able to distinguish one subspecies of the Japanese Vongole from another. The shell of the wench differs in color depending on the type of mollusk, as well as the habitat. The clam can range in color from dark brown to light blue or even dirty white.

It is noteworthy that the valves of the Vongole clam are heterogeneous in color and may contain spots or patterns in the form of zigzags and stripes. The maximum recorded size of the shells of the wench is 5 cm. Inside the shell of the vongole is the body of the mollusk, as well as the mantle. It is worth noting that the biological structure of the mollusk is interesting in the absence of a head and the presence of one leg, which helps the vongola to move.

Usually, the mollusk the vener chooses places with a depth of 12 meters for habitation. Such a mollusk as a vener is collected on the coast of the Tyrrhenian, as well as the Adriatic Sea at low tide. The mollusk is especially popular in Italy. It is worth noting that, unlike oysters and mussels, the vongole clam is not cultivated, but collected exclusively in the so-called wild or natural environment a habitat.

Interestingly, the veneer clam is harvested both by hand and seafood is harvested industrially. Like all representatives of bivalve mollusks, venus, due to their structure, miss sea ​​water through their filters. For this reason, it is strictly forbidden to use the shellfish in the form, so as not to get severe poisoning or an intestinal infection.

Clam is used to prepare both cold and hot main dishes. A real delicacy and a recognized masterpiece of the Italian culinary tradition is the marinated clams of the venereka. Peeled veneers are used to make risotto, as well as pasta with seafood. The mollusk veneerka is not only tasty, but, like all seafood, an incredibly useful food product for humans, in chemical composition which contains a large amount of vitamins, as well as macro- and microelements.

The vener mollusk is harvested not only by hand, but also industrially.

The calorie content of the wench is no more than 86 kcal per 100 grams of product.

The composition of the wench
It is impossible not to mention the benefits of the Vongole clam. This is extraordinary useful product, it contains vitamins: PP, B12, B9, B6, B5, B2, B1, E, D, A. Minerals: zinc, selenium, copper, manganese, iron, phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, calcium, potassium.

Venerka in cooking
The vener mollusk cannot be eaten as it is, because, like all bivalves, it passes seawater through itself, like a filter, and there is a chance of getting poisoning or an intestinal infection if the mollusk is not processed.

There are many ways to prepare clam, but pickled clam is the most popular. It is also used to make risotto, pasta with seafood.

To protect your soft vulnerable body from natural enemies, mollusks secrete a substance consisting mainly of calcium carbonate and hardening into a material close in density to marble. They acquired this ability in the early periods. geological history Earth, already by the beginning of the Cambrian (570 million years ago). Rocks of this age contain many of their fossilized shells.

The shell, layer by layer, is folded by special cells of the edge of the mantle, capable of forming limestone crystals from the salts of sea water.

The shell is both the outer skeleton and the house that bivalves and gastropods - and all other molluscs, except for some special groups - such as nudibranchs or octopuses, build for themselves. The shellfish grows - the shell grows too.

As they grow, molluscs secrete a substance that increases the size and thickness of their shells. This secret, secreted by the skin folds around the body, called the mantle, consists of calcium carbonate with an admixture of phosphate and magnesium carbonate. In bivalve molluscs, the mantle covers the body from the sides, and in gastropods it forms a fleshy lining of the mouth. The growth lines on the shells of bivalves run parallel to their outer edge, and in gastropods, new turns are added to the shells.

Three layers are distinguished in the shell of mollusks. The outer (periostracum) is rough, consists of organic matter conchiolin; medium, or porcelain-like (ostracum), formed by small prisms of calcite or aragonite, and the inner (hypostracum) - by parallel plates of aragonite and is often nacreous.

The pearlescent iridescent luster is due to the translucent layers of calcium carbonate. The shapes of shells and the color of their outer surface are extremely varied. Some are no larger than the head of a pin; they are so small that the beauty of their shape cannot be fully appreciated without a magnifying glass.

Others, such as the giant tridacna (Tridacna gigas) from the Indian and Pacific oceans, reach 60-120 cm in diameter and 135-180 kg in weight. They gave rise to legends about divers who fell under water in a trap from the closed valves of the shell of this mollusk.

Molluscs grow more slowly in winter and faster in summer; therefore, seams and convex growth rings remain on the shell (not to be confused with the normal concentric sculpture of a shell, for example, in a vench) - they can be used to calculate the age of a mollusk - as in annual rings on a tree cut.

In some molluscs, the shell consists of two shells closed together. These molluscs are called bivalves. This group includes edible sea molluscs (trazinka, vener), oysters, scallops, bivalve shells. Another type of mollusc has a shell of one shell, which can be coiled or in the shape of a cup. These molluscs are called snails.

Bradiben Weirich

Super Kingdom: Eucaryota = Nuclear organisms, or Eukaryotes

Kingdom: Animalia, Zoobiota = Animals

Subkingdom: Eumetazoa = True multicellular animals

Section: Triploblastica = Three-layer

SubCategory: Spiralia = Spiral

Type: Mollusca Linnaeus, 1758 = Molluscs, soft-bodied

Subtype: Conchifera = Conch

Class: Gastropoda Cuvier, 1797 = Gastropods, snails

Subclass: Pulmonata Cuvier, 1817 = Pulmonary

Order: Stylommatophora = Snails with eyes at the ends of tentacles, stem-eyed

Family: Bradybaenidae = Bradibens [fruticols]

Slug blue

The commonly used name for a number of gastropods that, in the course of evolutionary development, have undergone a reduction or complete loss of the shell (slugs - English; limaces - French; Nacktschnecken - German). Slugs are contrasted with gastropods with a well-developed shell (snails). The slug form independently emerged in several groups of aquatic and terrestrial gastropods, therefore the totality of all species is considered not as a taxon, but as an ecological form. Sometimes slugs that have preserved a rudimentary shell are called semislugs.

It is assumed that the reduction and subsequent loss of the shell had ecological prerequisites and occurred, for example, during the transition to living in dense thickets of aquatic plants or forest litter. According to another hypothesis, the reason was the lack of calcium necessary for the construction of the shell in the regions where the groups were formed in which the slug form arose. An important consequence poor development or the absence of a shell turns out to be the inability to isolate from the environment when attacked by a predator or unfavorable (for example, arid) conditions.

Comb coil

clam tridacna giant seashell

Coils. Eating. led. (Orig.)

1 - horny coil (Planorbis corneus); 2 - edge coil (P. marginatus); 3 - keel coil (P. carinatus), 4 - circular coil (P. vortex); 5 - coiled coil (P. contortus); 6 - smooth coil (P. glaber)

From coils average size note the marginal coil (P. marginatus L.) (shell diameter 15 mm, thickness 3.5 mm), the whorls of which are provided with a filiform keel passing in the middle of the whorl; much more often than the previous one there is a keel coil (P. carinatus L.), of almost the same size, in which the threadlike keel is displaced to the lower side. A somewhat smaller circular coil (P. vortex L.) (shell diameter 10 mm, thickness 1 mm) is very flat, with closely wound whorls, with a keel without a filamentous appendage.

Further, we note an almost black curled coil (P. contortus L.) (shell diameter 4-5 mm, thickness 1.8 mm), the turns of which are very closely coiled, so that their number reaches 7-8. Almost the same size, but with a small number of rapidly growing whorls, the shells of P. complanatus L.

The movement of the coils resembles that of a pond snail. When crawling, snails put their dark soft body far from the shell and move over underwater objects with the help of their wide flat legs. The head has a pair of thin tentacles, at the base of which the eyes are placed. Coils, just like pond snails, can wander over the surface of water bodies, being suspended from a film of surface tension of a liquid.

The coils breathe atmospheric air, taking it into the pulmonary cavity formed by the walls of the mantle. The respiratory opening leading to the indicated cavity opens on the side of the body, near the edge of the shell. It opens when the coil rises to the surface of the water for a supply of air. With a lack of air, the coil uses a special leathery outgrowth, which is placed on the body near the pulmonary opening and plays the role of a primitive gill. In addition, the coil is likely to breathe directly through the skin.

Nutrition. The coils feed on plant food, eating parts of the plants, which are scraped off with a grater. These snails are especially eager to eat the green bloom from small algae that forms on the walls of the aquarium. Outside, through the glass, it is easy to observe how the animal acts with its grater, raking away plaque like a spatula. It is quite possible that the coils can also feed on animal food. At least in captivity, they willingly pounce on raw meat.

Reproduction. Coils multiply with eggs, which are laid on the leaves of aquatic plants and other underwater objects. The clutch of the horny coil is constantly encountered on excursions and is so characteristic that it can be distinguished without difficulty: it has the appearance of a flat gelatinous plate oval yellowish or light brown in color and contains several dozen round pinkish transparent eggs. After two weeks or more (depending on the water temperature), tiny snails emerge from the eggs, which grow rather quickly. The caviar of coils, like other snails, is readily eaten by fish and is exterminated by them in large quantities. Like the pond snail, the coils are hermaphrodites.

The behavior of the coils during the drying up of the reservoirs in which they are found is interesting. They burrow into wet silt, like the large horny coil (P. corneus). Sometimes this coil remains on the surface of the soil, sticking to the silt with its mouth, if moisture remains in it, or it releases a dense film insoluble in water, which closes the hole in the shell. In the latter case, the body of the mollusk gradually shrinks, eventually occupying a third of the shell, and the weight of the soft parts drops by 40-50%. In this state, the mollusk can survive out of water for up to three months (marginal coil P. marginatus P. planorbis).

Coils (Planorbis) belong to the class of gastropods (Gastropoda), to the order of pulmonary (Pulmonata), to the family of coils (Planorbidae).

The coil can be distinguished at first glance due to its extremely characteristic shell, coiled in one plane in the form of a spiral cord.

The horny coil (P. corneus L.), which is the largest among the others (shell diameter 30 mm, height 12 mm), is reddish-brown in color, most attracts the attention of excursionists. This coil is found everywhere in both pond and lake waters.

Japanese scallop

Cultivated in the Yellow Sea. It usually inhabits oyster banks with a depth of 2 to 6 meters, attaching itself to empty shells with the help of a byssus. Occurs on pebbles with depths of 4-8 meters. The shell is high, brown-lilac, with ears of different lengths. The surface bears radial ribs covered with sparse scales. The largest dimensions are about 100 mm.

Tridacna giant

Giant tridacna, or giant cocked hat (lat.Tridacna gigas) - large view marine bivalve molluscs inhabiting the reefs of the Pacific and Indian oceans.

The shell length can reach up to 1.2 m, and the mass of large specimens can exceed 200 kg. Life expectancy often exceeds 100 years.

The giant cocked hat is a typical filter feeder that eats unicellular algae and microorganisms, passing water through itself.

Can produce pearls that are often impressive in size but lack gem value. The largest documented pearl was 24 cm long, 14 cm wide, 15 cm high, and weighed 6.4 kg (Lao Tzu pearl).

In 1956, on Ishigaki Island (Japan), a mollusk was found 1.15 m long and weighing 333 kg. It was the largest clam on Earth, according to the Guinness Book of Records.