---
title: "Japanese Littleneck"
description: "Ruditapes philippinarum — Andere dieren. Ruditapes philippinarum, the Manila clam, is an edible species of saltwater clam in the family Veneridae, the Venus clams."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/japanese-littleneck
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Japanese Littleneck

> Ruditapes philippinarum — Andere dieren. Ruditapes philippinarum, the Manila clam, is an edible species of saltwater clam in the family Veneridae, the Venus clams.

- Scientific name: *Ruditapes philippinarum*
- Category: `other` (Andere dieren)
- Habitats: `sea` (Zee en kust)
- iNaturalist observations: 6534
- Wikidata: [Q15703958](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15703958)
- iNaturalist taxon: [343269](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/343269)

## Names

- en: Japanese Littleneck
- de: Japanische Teppichmuschel
- es: Almeja japonesa
- fr: Palourde japonaise

## Countries with the most observations

US (1962), CA (1111), FR (201), CN (186), GB (115), RU (99), JP (92), NL (91), KR (88), IT (70), DE (56), BE (46)

## Summary

Ruditapes philippinarum, the Manila clam, is an edible species of saltwater clam in the family Veneridae, the Venus clams. Common names include Manila clam, Japanese littleneck clam, Japanese cockle, and Japanese carpet shell. In China, it is known as geli. In Japan, it is known as asari. In Korea, it is known as bajirak.
The clam is commercially harvested, and is the second most important bivalve grown in aquaculture worldwide.

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

## Photo

![Japanese Littleneck](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/japanese-littleneck/medium.jpg)

Photo: ahaislip · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/53752693

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/japanese-littleneck?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).