Life Sciences Commons^™

The Influence Of Sediment Characteristics On The Burrowing Behavior Of Juvenile Razor Clams, Ensis Directus, Robert Joseph Hallinan

Honors College

Ensis directus, or the Atlantic razor clam, is an infaunal bivalve species whose geographic range extends along the Atlantic coast of North America, from Canada to South Carolina. In this study, I examined the burrowing behavior of large juvenile razor clams (shell length: 60-78 mm) in two sediment types: fine mud sediment and coarse sand sediment. I categorized the burrowing behavior into four independent phases: recovery, exploration, initiation, and tunneling and recorded the proportion and time of completion of each stage of burrowing. With each clam having been exposed to both sediment types, more razor clams burrowed in the fine …