Vesicomyid bivalves are a consistent component of communities of sulphide-rich reducing environments distributed worldwide from 77 degrees N to 70 degrees S at depths from 100 to 9050 m. Up-to-now the taxonomy of the family has been uncertain. In this paper, the current state of vesicomyid taxonomy and distribution at the generic rank are considered. This survey is founded on a database includi...

Road-salt pollution in streams in the Northeastern United States has become a major concern, but historical data are scarce. Freshwater bivalve shells have the ability to record past environmental information, and may act as archives of road-salt pollution. We sampled Elliptio complanata shells from four streams, as well as specimens collected in 1877. Average [Na/Ca]shell was highest in modern...

We examined the decision of the asteroid Leptasterias polaris to abandon its bivalve prey Spisula polynyma when confronted with the predatory asteroid Asterias vulgaris. The frequency of abandonment decreased as the proportion of prey ingested increased from 10 to 40%, and increased with further increases in proportion of prey ingested. The escape response of L. polaris appears to be a compromi...