---
title: "Soft-shelled Clam"
description: "Mya arenaria — Altri animali. Soft-shell clams (American English) or Sand gaper (British English/Europe), scientific name Mya arenaria, popularly called \"steamers\", \"softshells\", \"piss clams\", \"Ipswich clams\", or \"Essex clams\", are a species of edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Myidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/soft-shelled-clam
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Soft-shelled Clam

> Mya arenaria — Altri animali. Soft-shell clams (American English) or Sand gaper (British English/Europe), scientific name Mya arenaria, popularly called "steamers", "softshells", "piss clams", "Ipswich clams", or "Essex clams", are a species of edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Myidae.

- Scientific name: *Mya arenaria*
- Category: `other` (Altri animali)
- Habitats: `sea` (Mare e costa)
- iNaturalist observations: 9490
- Wikidata: [Q20958](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20958)
- iNaturalist taxon: [81634](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/81634)

## Names

- en: Soft-shelled Clam
- de: Sandklaffmuschel
- fr: Mye commune
- nl: Strandgaper
- pl: Małgiew piaskołaz

## Countries with the most observations

US (3046), CA (2295), DE (628), DK (325), PL (292), LT (209), GB (130), NL (128), RU (126), SE (105), UA (82), NO (63)

## Summary

Soft-shell clams (American English) or Sand gaper (British English/Europe), scientific name Mya arenaria, popularly called "steamers", "softshells", "piss clams", "Ipswich clams", or "Essex clams", are a species of edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Myidae.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft-shell_clam

## Photo

![Soft-shelled Clam](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/soft-shelled-clam/medium.jpg)

Photo: Wouter Koch · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/78470216

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/soft-shelled-clam?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).