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Researchers have described a new clam species, Deltachion ravenshaw, from the sandy intertidal stretches of the Devi estuary in Puri district, Odisha.
It belongs to the family Donacidae (wedge clams), a group of bivalve molluscs; the description appeared in the journal Basteria in 2026.
Unusually, it was found in brackish estuarine water, though Deltachion species are generally marine.
India records 12 Donacidae species, seven of them from the Odisha coast.
The Devi is a distributary of the Mahanadi that meets the Bay of Bengal in Puri district. Its mouth is one of Odisha's three mass-nesting (arribada) sites of the olive ridley turtle, along with Gahirmatha and Rushikulya.
GS Paper III > Environment > Biodiversity; Prelims > Species in News
Mollusc with a shell of two hinged valves, e.g. clams, mussels, oysters
Water saltier than freshwater but less salty than seawater, typical of estuaries