Chinese surf clam

About this species

Mactra chinensis is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mactridae, the trough shells.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Mactra chinensis”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 18 records
February: 44 records
March: 34 records
April: 35 records
May: 25 records
June: 30 records
July: 41 records
August: 65 records
September: 24 records
October: 25 records
November: 10 records
December: 8 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 287 m · Deepest record: 287 m

280–290 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 13–29 °C

12–14 °C: 2 records
14–16 °C: 1 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 75 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 2 records
24–26 °C: 0 records
26–28 °C: 0 records
28–30 °C: 1 records

Photos

(c) mister_bumble, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Se Lena, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kim, Hyun-tae, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) stolbovsky, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Mikhail Nevsky, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Pavel Smirnov, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rosie Steinberg, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Chinese surf clam, Sunray surf clam, Chinese Mactra

Names in 3 more languages

Japanese: バカガイ
Korean: 개량조개
Simplified Chinese: 中國蛤蜊, 中華馬珂蛤

Other scientific names: Mactra carneopicta, Mactra sulcataria, Trigonella (Mactra) chinensis, Trigonella sulcataria

Similar species

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
491 open-data records from 1925 to 2024.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.