The bivalve shell is made of calcium carbonate embedded in an organic matrix secreted by the mantle. The periostracum, the outermost organic layer, is secreted by the inner surface of the outer mantle fold at the mantle margin. It is a substrate upon which calcium carbonate can be deposited by the outer surface of the outer mantle fold. The number of calcareous layers in the shell (in addition to the periostracum), the composition of those layers (aragonite or aragonite and calcite), and the arrangement of these deposits (e.g., in sheets, or foliate) is characteristic for different groups of bivalves. Middorsally an elastic ligament creates the opening thrust that operates against the closing action of the adductor muscles. The ligament typically develops either externally (parivincular) or internally (alivincular) but comprises outer lamellar, and inner fibrous, layers secreted by the mantle crest. The ligament type is generally characteristic of each bivalve group. The hinge plate with ligament also possesses interlocking teeth to enforce valve alignment and locking, when closed, to prevent shear. Many variations in teeth structure occur.

The mantle and musculature

The mantle lobes secrete the shell valves; the mantle crest secretes the ligament and hinge teeth. Growth takes place at the margins, although increases in thickness take place everywhere. The mantle is withdrawn between the shell valves by mantle retractor muscles; their point of attachment to the shell being called the pallial line.

The musculature comprises two (dimyarian) primitively equal (isomyarian) adductor muscles; the anterior and the posterior. The anterior of these may be reduced (anisomyarian; heteromyarian) or lost (monomyarian). Only very rarely is the posterior lost and the anterior retained.

Internal to the adductors are paired anterior and posterior pedal retractor muscles. Where the anterior adductor muscle is reduced, so are the anterior pedal retractors. In highly active burrowers, paired anterior pedal protractors and pedal elevator muscles occur—for example, the family Trigonioidea.

In byssally attached bivalves, pedal retractors are reduced and byssal retractors serve to pull the animal down in closer opposition to the rock surface. In oysters, commensurate with the extreme reduction of the foot, pedal retractors are lost. This is also the case in swimming scallops.

The nervous system and organs of sensation

The nervous system is simple and the head is completely absent, reflecting the sedentary habit. In primitive bivalves (e.g., Palaeotaxodonta) there are four pairs of ganglia—cerebral, pleural, pedal, and visceral. In all other bivalves the cerebral and pleural ganglia are fused into two cerebropleural ganglia, located above and on either side of the esophagus. The pedal ganglia are in the base of the foot, and the visceral ganglia are located under the posterior adductor muscle. Nerve fibres arising from the cerebropleural ganglia extend to the pedal and visceral ganglia. In some bivalves with long siphons, there are accessory siphonal ganglia, and in many swimming bivalves the visceral ganglia are much enlarged, presumably to coordinate complex swimming actions.

Again reflecting the sedentary life, sensory functions are largely taken over by the posterior mantle margins and typically comprise tentacles developed from the middle mantle folds that are mechanoreceptors and chemoreceptors. Scallops (family Pectinidae) have complex eyes with a lens and retina. In other bivalves, eyes are simple ciliated cups, although some variation is possible. In the predatory deepwater septibranchs the inhalant siphon, which captures food, is surrounded by tentacles that have vibration-sensitive papillae for detecting the movements of prey.

Situated close to the pedal ganglia but with direct connections to the cerebropleural ganglia are a pair of statocysts, which comprise a capsule of ciliated sense cells. In the lumen is either a single statolith or numerous crystalline statoconia. Their points of contact with the surrounding cilia yield information about the animal’s orientation. Additionally, most bivalves with or without eyes have light-sensitive cells that respond to shadows. Below the posterior adductor muscle an osphradium has been identified in some bivalves that may monitor water flow and quality.

The digestive system and nutrition

The bivalve digestive system comprises a complex stomach and associated structures but an otherwise simple intestine. The various types of stomach have been used to erect an alternative classification. Digestion typically takes place in two phases: extracellular in the stomach and intracellular in the digestive diverticula, opening laterally from the stomach wall. Transport of food particles is effected by cilia, creating an array of tracts and sorting areas within the stomach. The principal organ of extracellular digestion is the crystalline style. It is rotated in its sac by cilia; the head, projecting into the stomach, grinds against a part of the stomach wall lined by a chitinous gastric shield. As it rotates, it dissolves, releasing enzymes and initiating primary extracellular digestion of the mucus-bound food. Products of this process are passed in a fluid suspension into large embayments and thence into the digestive diverticula, where intracellular digestion takes place. Waste material is consolidated in the midgut and rectum and expelled as firm fecal pellets from an anus opening into the exhalant stream. Feeding and digestion are highly coordinated, typically regulated by tidal and diurnal cycles.

The excretory system

Blood is forced through the walls of the heart into the pericardium. From there it passes into the kidneys where wastes are removed, producing urine. The paired kidneys (nephridia) are looped with an opening into the pericardium and another into the suprabranchial chamber. The kidneys may be united. Bivalves also possess pericardial glands lining either the auricles of the heart or the pericardium; they serve as an additional ultrafiltration device.