ABSTRACT
C. iredalei is widely distributed in the Philippines. Although it is particularly abundant in certain localities the entire coast serves as its natural habitat. C. iredalei is an epifaunal species: larval stages are pelagic whereas adults are sessile. They attach by their lower left valve, which partly cements to substrates on the seabottom or on a wall of submarine rocks and other structures sticking out of the seabed. The species is frequently encountered in sheltered bays, coves, or estuaries with hard and sticky blue mud, or semisandy or hard nonshifting eroding bottoms. C. iredalei are protandric hermaphrodites. However, they not only change from male to female, as in most true protandric hermaphrodites, but also change back from female to male. Rates of growth depend on several factors, including sufficiency of food organisms, size of population, location within the water column, and method of culture used.
