''Dosinia anus'', commonly named the ringed dosinia, coarse dosinia, coarse biscuit shell and tuangi-haruru, in the

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of saltwater clam, a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Veneridae, the venus clams. The species is common to both of the main islands of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, where it is the largest and heaviest species in the genus, occasionally exceeding 80 mm in diameter. It buries itself in clean fine sandy substrata, sub-tidally down to 15 m deep. An investigation into a potential surf clam fishery found this species to be the most abundant 'surf clam' (an informal grouping based on habitat) in the North Island, being replaced by members of the

Mactridae Mactridae, common name the trough shells or duck clams, is a family of saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks in the order Venerida. Description These clams have two short siphons, each with a horny sheath. The shell is shaped like a rounded- ...

in more southerly latitudes.Cook, Steve De C., “New Zealand Coastal Marine Invertebrates Vol 1”, Canterbury University Press, NZ 2010, ISBN 978-1877257-60-5

References

* Powell A. W. B., ''New Zealand Mollusca'', William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 * Glen Pownall, ''New Zealand Shells and Shellfish'', Seven Seas Publishing Pty Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand 1979 Dosinia Bivalves of New Zealand Bivalves described in 1848 {{Veneridae-stub