Common Jingle (GTM Research Reserve Mollusc Guide)

Common Jingle

Anomia simplex

Summary ⁵

Anomia simplex, or the common jingle shell, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Anomiidae. It can be found along the Atlantic coast of North America, ranging from Nova Scotia to the West Indies.

Taxon biology ⁶

The Common Jingle Shell (Anomia simplex) occurs along the east coast of North America from Cape Cod to the Caribbean (Gosner 1978) or Brazil (Rehder 1981). North of this range, it is largely replaced by the smaller and more fragile Prickly Jingle (A. aculeata). Common Jingles are found in the subtidal from shallow water to around 18 m. Although they may be found attached to rocks or shells in the lower intertidal zone, they are most commonly encountered as washed up beach shells. The two thin, translucent valves of the shell are dissimilar, the lower (right) valve being flat and more fragile and having a large hole through which a bundle of fleshy calcified byssal threads passes to anchor the live animal to a substrate. Because of the greater fragility of the lower valves, these are much less commonly found on beaches than are the convex upper valves. If the living animal attaches itself to another shell, the sculpture and shape of the upper (left) valve may resemble that of the shell to which it is attached. The shell may reach 75 mm in diameter, but is more typically half that size. (Gosner 1978; Rehder 1981; Fuller et al. 1989)