Nanohana Gai(in japanese)

Nanohana Gai(in japanese)
Japanese Common Name
Nanohana Gai
Scientific name
Leptomya adunca
Taxonomy
Order: Veneroida, Family: Semelidae
Size
About 3 cm
Species Distribution
Amamioshima, Okinawa, Kumejima, and Ishigaki Islands
Okinawa Red List of Threatened Species: Critically Endangered and Endangered
Japan Red List of Threatened Species: Vulnerable
This species is found in eelgrass beds where clean water keeps moving in deeper areas with sandy and muddy bottoms. Even though the population was small, the species had been observed in Awase Tidal Flat up until the early 1990’s. Around that time that substrate conditions got poor, which had a severe impact on the eelgrass beds that served as a natural habitat for this species. Pollution, enriched water, land reclamation and coastal development can factor heavily in the destruction of eelgrass habitat, which then cause a decline in the population of Leptomya adunca.

Updated September 2018

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