Ensis directus   Conrad, 1843

American jack knife clam

Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Ensis directus  AquaMaps  Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Ensis directus

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Bivalvia | Adapedonta | Pharidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Benthic; brackish; depth range 0 - 73 m (Ref. 104365).  Temperate, preferred 12°C (Ref. 107945); 46°N - 18°N, 91°W - 59°W

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Western Atlantic Ocean: from Nova Scotia, Canada to Florida and southern Gulf of Mexico to Campeche, Mexico. Introduced in the Northeast Atlantic from UK (England and Wales), the North Sea to southern Norway and southern Baltic Sea to Spain in the southern Bay of Biscay. Tropical to temperate.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm Max length : 26.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 7726)

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Comprise communities and assemblages throughout the Mid-Atlantic Bight (Ref. 80354).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Members of the class Bivalvia are mostly gonochoric, some are protandric hermaphrodites. Life cycle: Embryos develop into free-swimming trocophore larvae, succeeded by the bivalve veliger, resembling a miniature clam.

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Harvey-Clark, C. 1997. (Ref. 7726)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)


CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
FAO - Fisheries: landings | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Trophic Ecology
Food items
Diet
Food consumption
Ration
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Home ranges
Population dynamics
Growth
Age/Size
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Fecundity
Spawning
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Human Related
Aquaculture profile
Stamps, Coins Misc.
Outreach
Taxonomy
References

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Fisheries: ; publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 4.1 - 26, mean 9.7 (based on 362 cells).
Vulnerability (Ref. 71543): Low vulnerability (16 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766): Low.
Nutrients :  Calcium = 149 [71, 228] mg/100g; Iron = 8.53 [1.95, 15.11] mg/100g; Protein = 9.88 [8.64, 11.12] %; Omega3 = 0.313 [0.202, 0.423] g/100g; Selenium = 61 [50, 72] μg/100g; VitaminA = 0 μg/100g; Zinc = 2.04 [0.56, 3.51] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.