Cuming’s Jingle Shell, Placunanomia cumingii

Jingle Shells of the Anomiidae Family are thin, sometimes translucent, clam shells that are ovate in shape. They lack hinge teeth. The valves are irregular, conforming to the solid substrate to which they attach themselves to. The right valve has a hole or slot near the hinge through which the byssus grows attaching the shell to the substrate. Their byssus can become heavily calcified, resembling bone or another shell valve. They are suspension feeders.

Jingle Shells are found worldwide in tropical and temperate seas, from shallow to deep water. There are twenty-five species in the Anomiidae Family of which five are found along the coastlines of the Baja Peninsula.