December 13, 2016

The valves of an ocean quahog

An article published in the journal “Nature Communications” describes a research on the climate changes in the last millennium in the north Atlantic Ocean studied by the shells of ocean quahog (photo ©Hans Hillewaert). This species, scientifically called Arctica islandica, is the longest-living animal in the world, therefore the growth rings of its shells can provide a lot of information on the environment in which they formed.