Meretrix lyrata

Lyrate asiatic hard clam
A whole shell of Meretrix lyrata showing both the outside and the inside
Live Meretrix lyrata for sale as sea food in a market in Haikou City, Hainan Province, China
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Bivalvia
Order:	Venerida
Superfamily:	Veneroidea
Family:	Veneridae
Genus:	Meretrix
Species:	M. lyrata
Binomial name
Meretrix lyrata (Sowerby, 1851)
Synonyms
Cytherea lyrata Sowerby, 1851

Meretrix lyrata, the lyrate Asiatic hard clam, also known simply as the hard clam (Vietnamese: Nghêu Bến Tre), is an edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Veneridae, the Venus clams.

This species occurs along the coasts of Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo) and South China.^[1]

Right and left valve of the same specimen:

• 
  Right valve
• 
  Left valve

Culinary use

In Vietnam, these hard clams are eaten boiled, steamed or roasted. They are an important export in the eastern and southern parts of Vietnam.^[2]

References

1. Idris, Mohd Hanafi; Abu Hena, Mustafa Kamal; Hamli, Hadi; Rajaee, Amy; Al-Asif, Abdulla- (16 December 2022). "The molecular approach reveals the relationship among Venus clams (Meretrix spp.) community in Malaysia". Biotropia. 29 (3): 213–224. doi:10.11598/btb.2022.29.3.1583.
2. "BIVALVES". Archived from the original on 2006-10-04. Fisheries Informatic Center, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam. Retrieved May 25, 2008.

• Reid, Shannon (2003). "Meretrix lyrata (Sowerby, 1851)". OBIS Indo-Pacific Molluscan Database, Academy of Natural Sciences.
• "NCBI".
• "AGROVOC Thesaurus".