#paphies

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#3717 - Paphies australis - Pipi

An endemic Mesodesmatid clam, abundant on flat sandy beaches and estuaries and harbours with good water flow. Populations can reach more than 1000 per square meter, but if conditions are poor they release a thread of low density mucus and float away to somewhere hopefully more hospitable.

Collected in huge quantities for food, although bag limits these days are only 50 a day. The Māori used to use flax baskets with gaps between the wowen strips, so younger pipi would fall back to the sea floor as the collected shellfish were rinsed.

Ōnawe Peninsula, Akaroa Harbour, Banks Peninsula,  Aotearoa New Zealand.

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#3049 - Paphies elongata - Elongate Wedge Shell

At least the one on the right is - the larger one on the left is either Latona or Donax, in the Donacidae - not even the same Family as the Paphies.

AKA Shining Wedge Shell, Amesodesma perfuga, Mesodesma nitida, Mesodesma elongata, Mesodesma angusta, Donacilla angusta and Amesodesma angusta. Often called Pipis here in Australia, although the proper bearer of that common name, Paphies australis, is endemic to New Zealand.

Edible, saltwater, clams from intertidal sandy shores. Some species are highly valued foodstuffs.

WA Naturalists Club Centenary Beach Walk

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#2637 - Paphies donacina - Southern Tuatua 

One of a genus of large edible beach-dwelling bivalves endemic to Aotearoa. Other include the pipi (P. australis), tuatua (P. subtriangulata) and toheroa (P. ventricosa).

The later was and is a traditional food for Māori, with wars fought over access to the best beds, and the shellfish transported around the country in bags made from southern bull kelp (Durvillaea poha).

Toheroa soup became an international delicacy after the Royal Tour of Prince Edward in 1920, but since 1979 harvesting has been mostly banned. To little effect - illegal poaching, poorly policed customary harvesting, vehicle driving on beaches, pollution, reduction in fresh water coming onto beaches, and disease, have all prevented a recovery in the bivalve's population.

Timaru, Aotearoa New Zealand

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#2417 - Paphies subtriangulata - Tuatua

AKA Erycina subangulata, Mactra subtriangulata, Mesodesma cuneata, reentsii, and spissa and Paphies porrecta.

A beach-dwelling Mesodesmatid bivalve, endemic to the islands of Aotearoa, where it was and still is widely collected for food. These days there are strict bag limits on how many you dig out of the sand.

The large shell is asymmetrical, with the hinge at one side. Its closest relative, the pipi (Paphies australis), has a symmetrical shell.

Paritutu Rock, New Plymouth, New Zealand.

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Toheroa: A fabled shellfish that nearly vanished

Mainly found on New Zealand's North Island, this large clam treasured by Māori coastal communities nearly became extinct due to exploitation

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Cyril Gilroy takes us to Ōreti beach where we dig for the much prized tohera. We meet the marae cooks who tell tales of gathering this once plentiful bounty and although we can’t get a decent soup recipe out of them we are treated to a decent feed of patties.