Skimmer
Spisula solidissima (Dillwyn, 1817)
Status not recordedmolluscs
The skimmer (Spisula solidissima) is a species in the family Mactridae, order Venerida.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the skimmer
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the skimmer live?
Not recorded
Is the skimmer endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the skimmer classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumMollusca
- classBivalvia
- orderVenerida
- familyMactridae
- genusSpisula
- SpeciesSpisula solidissima (Dillwyn, 1817)
Synonyms Mactra gigantea, Mactra procera, Mactra similis, Mactra solidissima, Mactra solidissima var. curta, Spissula solidissima, Spisula similis, Spisula solidissima, Spisula solidissima similis, Spisula solidissima var. acadica
Other names and names in other languages (20)
- Atlantic surf clamEnglish
- Atlantic surfclamEnglish
- Bar clamEnglish
- Hen clamEnglish
- Sea clamEnglish
- Solid surfclamEnglish
- West Atlantic surf clamEnglish
- dížovka jedláCzech
- RiesentrogmuschelGerman
- mactre solideFrench
- Spisola atlantica occidentaleItalian
- アメリカウバガイJapanese
- reuzenstrandschelpDutch
- Спизула твердейшаяRussian
- maktra príbojováSlovak
- 大西洋衝浪馬珂蛤Chinese
- Atlantische RiesentrogmuschelGerman
- mactre d'AmériqueFrench
- mactre de l'AtlantiqueFrench
- Reuzen-strandschelpDutch
Relatives of the skimmer
Other species in the same genus Spisula.
Bar clam
Spisula solida
Cut surfclam
Spisula subtruncata
Hen clam
Spisula sachalinensis
Elliptical surfclam
Spisula elliptica
Southern surfclam
Spisula raveneli
Trough shell
Spisula discors
CompareSkimmer vs Bar clamSkimmer vs Cut surfclamSkimmer vs Hen clamSkimmer vs Elliptical surfclam
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
What kind of animal is the skimmer?
The skimmer (Spisula solidissima) belongs to the family Mactridae in the order Venerida.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Skimmer (Spisula solidissima). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/skimmer
“Skimmer (Spisula solidissima).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/skimmer.
@misc{skimmer_2026,
title = {Skimmer (Spisula solidissima)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/skimmer},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}