Cuming’s Tellin Shell, Tellinella cumingii

Cuming’s Tellin Shell, Tellinella cumingii. Shell collected off the beach at Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, February 2022. Size: 5.1 cm (2.0 inches) x 2.2 cm (0.9 inches). Collection, photograph and Identification courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur.

Cuming’s Tellin Shell, Tellinella cumingii. Shell collected off the beach at Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, February 2022. Size: 5.6 cm (2.2 inches) x 2.5 cm (1.0 inch). Collection, photograph and Identification courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur.

Cuming’s Tellin, Tellinella cumingii (Handley, 1844), is a bivalve mollusk that is a member of the Tellinidae Family of Tellins. This species was named in honor of Hugh Cuming, a British natural historian collector in the 1800s who was known as the Prince of Collectors. He amassed a shell collection of over 80,000 specimens and 100,000 dried plant specimens that included birds, plants, reptiles and shells from Chile, Mexico, the Indian Ocean, and the South Pacific Ocean. Cuming custom built a yacht to support his collecting. Twenty-four species have been named in his honor.

Cumin’s Tellin Shell has a yellowish-white exterior that is marked with bold radiating brown or purple stripes and sculptured with fine, closely set concentric lamellae. They have a an elongated oval flattened profile and are inequilateral with the posterior end having a strong flexuous rib. They have two long siphons that reach up to the surface of the sediment. They are filter feeders. They reach a maximum of 6.9 cm (2.7 inches) in length and 2.9 cm (1.1 inches) in height.

Cuming’s Tellina reside in soft sediment at depths between 9 m (30 feet) and 73 m (240). They are found in all Mexican waters of the Pacific with the exception that they are absent from north of Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur.

Synonyms include: Tellina argis and Tellina cumingii.