A retractable foot, a siphon for sucking up water, powerful muscles, and, sometimes, a pearl ... and mussels, clams are bivalves, a kind of mollusk that's encased in a shell made of two valves ...

Pearls are made by marine oysters and freshwater mussels as a natural defence against an irritant such as a parasite entering their shell or damage to their fragile body. The oyster or mussel slowly ...

especially in representations of Mary and child standing below the symbol of the clam shell. So in paintings by Neri di Bicci, Piero della Francesca, and Bernardino Butinone. A particularly telling ...

Inside the shell, the oyster has several parts ... and Lifestyle Tips visit Etimes Oysters are the primary producers of pearls, clams and mussels can also create pearls, though this is much ...