THE RAZOR SHELLS. RAZOR CLAMS - FAMILY SOLENIDAE.
A family of agile bivalves which live buried vertically in sand.
Genus SOLEN, Linn.
Shell long, narrow, straight, with parallel margins; foot short, blunt; hinge teeth, one in each valve; mantle closed, except in front, forms siphonal sheath. World-wide genus, except in cold seas. Thirty-seven living species, forty fossil. Low water to one hundred fathoms.
The celerity with which these mollusks burrow to a level of safety in the sand is astonishing. Tread softly if you would find one at the mouth of his hole taking in fresh oxygen at low tide. Careless footsteps give the alarm. A jet of water flies up as the siphons are drawn in. The foot flies out, thin as a knife blade, cutting through the sand in a slanting downward course. Contracting this, a bulb is formed at the tip, which anchors it while the contraction pulls the shell down. The thrust and pull are repeated, and before you have begun to dig in the sand to discover him, the razor is safe with two feet of sand above him. The muscular strength of this mollusk is far greater, in proportion to size, than a man's.
English fishermen sprinkle salt on the mouth of the burrow of this clam, causing it to rise and spout to expel the irritant. It is popularly supposed that the razors hail it as a sign of the incoming tide — an unreasonable theory. Oil spread on the sand 318 The Razor Shells. Razor Clams calls the mollusks to the surface for air, and shows the fisher man exactly where they are.
Neapolitan fishermen wrap their toes in rags, go into water hip-deep, and explore the sandy bottom with the foot for razor clams. The mollusk is seized between the first and second toes. It is a well-trained foot that catches the agile razor in this way, and avoids ugly wounds from the thin shell blades.
The flesh of the razors is counted a delicacy along European coasts. We have not yet learned to appreciate the clear pink or yellowish white flesh, having never tasted it. We have not taken time to bother with small, thin clams, having larger, if coarser, kinds in plenty to supply us. The razor will come to popularity in due time. In flavour they are unsurpassed, and as they live in colonies, the digger who acquires a little skill will procure an abundant catch in a short time.
Razors have eyes like the scallops, ocelli or pigment spots, fringing the mantle edge around the siphons. By these they distinguish light from darkness. A shadow cast across the sand will cause the quick disappearance of every protruding siphon.
In water, razors swim about as scallops do, snapping their two valves together, and darting here and there with great sud denness and speed. A captured razor clam rapidly extends and retracts the foot, showing in pantomime how he burrows. Drop him on the sand and he goes down like a mole.
The Sheath Razor Shell (S. vagina, Linn.) largest of them all, has a straight cylindrical shell, squared at both ends. The extended siphon and foot make the shell seem inadequate to cover the body. A neck-like constriction grooves the anterior end. Length, 6 to 1 o inches.
Habitat.— Europe.
The Blunt Razor Shell (S. sicarius, Gld.) is the common razor of the Pacific coast. It is four inches long, curved slightly, rounded behind, squared abruptly in front. Colour white, with glossy olive epidermis.
The Rosy Razor Shell (S. rosaceus, Cpr.) is a smooth, pinkish-white, flattened, straight tube. Its epidermis is olive and glossy. Length, 2 inches.
Habitat.— Southern California.
319 The Razor Shells. Razor Clams S. viridis, Say, with pale green epidermis, two inches long, occurs north to Rhode Island and is abundant from New Jersey southward.