Clinocardium

Clinocardium is a genus of marine bivalve molluscs in the family Cardiidae, the cockles. This genera mainly contains extinct members, only being represented by the single living species Clinocardium nuttallii, also known as the basket cockle, heart cockle, or Nuttall's cockle, a large edible saltwater clam. This species was originally described in the genus Cardium, with the species name being after zoologist, Thomas Nuttall, in 1837, with the type locality being from the Columbia River estuary in Oregon. Cardium was eventually split into multiple genera, where C. nuttallii was moved to its current genera Clinocardium in 1936. This species also has a history in the fossil record with its earliest known appearance being from Asagai Formation from the Oligocene in Fukushima, Japan. Fossils have so far been uncovered in the United States (California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska), Japan (Fukushima, Hokkaido), Russia (Sakhalin Oblast, Kamchatka Peninsula), and Canada (British Colombia).