The “Large-Ribbed Cardita” is an exceedingly beautiful and colourful western Pacific carditid ranging from Taiwan to Indonesia to Australia.

It is tremendously variable in colouration which can be anything from white to red to yellow to violet to very dark brown, and is therefore popular among collectors to collect a set of many specimens to exhibit the whole palette. Although it is a common species, some colour forms, such as purple, are rare.

The form and sculpture is generally quite consistent; specimens may or may not have dark lines on top of their base colours, in most cases between ribs but sometimes also over the ribs.

A suspension feeding bivalve, it inhabits sandy bottoms of intertidal and shallow subtidal waters down to about -40m deep. Typical shell length around 45mm, extremely large specimens may exceed even 70mm. – From Chong Chen’s post