''Paphies ventricosa'', or toheroa (a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

word meaning "long tongue"), is a large bivalve mollusc of the

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

Mesodesmatidae ''Mesodesmatidae'' is a family of saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks in the order Venerida.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Mesodesmatidae Gray, 1840. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.o ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

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 ...

Distribution

It is found in both the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and South Islands, but the main habitat is the west coast of the North Island. The best grounds are wide fine-sand beaches where there are extensive sand-dunes, enclosing freshwater, which percolates to the sea, there promoting the growth of diatoms and

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucia ...

Description

The toheroa is a very large shellfish with a solid white, elongated shell with the apex at the middle. Maximum length is 117 mm, height 81 mm, and thickness 38 mm.

Human use

The toheroa has long been a popular seafood, often made into a greenish soup, for which it has an international reputation. Toheroa were translocated across New Zealand by

using (kelp bags) made from southern bull kelp (''

Durvillaea poha ''Durvillaea poha'' is a large, robust species of southern bull kelp found in New Zealand. Discovery The species was previously classified as the "cape" lineage of ''Durvillaea antarctica'', but in 2012 it was recognised as a distinct species ...

''). It was

over-exploited Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term ap ...

in the 1950s and 1960s, and there has been a ban on harvesting (except for limited customary purposes) since 1979. However, numbers have not recovered since 1979, due to illegal poaching, poorly policed customary harvesting, vehicle driving on beaches, pollution, reduction in fresh water coming onto beaches, and

gas bubble disease Gas bubble disease is a disease of fish that are exposed to water supersaturated with natural gases like oxygen, carbon dioxide, or nitrogen. Bubbles of gas may form in the eyes, skin, gills, and fins. It becomes prominent whenever there is a chan ...

References

Checklist of New Zealand Mollusca
* Powell A. W. B., ''New Zealand Mollusca'', William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 {{Taxonbar, from=Q1747523 Commercial molluscs Bivalves of New Zealand Mesodesmatidae Bivalves described in 1790 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin