A: when it doesn't live in the surf?

today i was reminded - as i did some shore collecting - that for a number
of years now there has been a consistent population of Atlantic surf clams
(Spisula solidissima) thriving on the bayside of Jones Beach State Park,
well away from any open water or surf. The habitat here is sandy mud or, as
you get further west (closer to Jones Inlet, where the ocean and bay meet)
it's thicker mud. Where I have found them, its at least a couple of miles
westward around the bay and then SW to the inlet.

On the ocean side of Jones Beach this species is common just offshore, and
is fished commercially. Perhaps due to the different environmental
conditions, large specimens on the bayside seem to retain more of the brown
periostracum than comparable sized specimens that wash up on the ocean
beaches.

Has anybody else found or noted  Spisula living in calm bay waters?

SR

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