Alan Davidson

Razor Clam

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

razor clam or razor-shell any of a group of edible bivalves, mainly of the genera Ensis and Solen, whose shells resemble in shape the old-fashioned cut-throat razor. They are very brittle, usually covered by a glossy brown or yellowish periostracum (outer covering), and gape permanently at both ends. This last feature makes it impossible to market razor clams alive in their shells.

Its long and powerful ‘foot’ enables a razor clam to make its way through wet sand like a knife through butter, dodging danger by a swift descent. Hunting them in the intertidal waters where they lurk can be a frustrating business, and even perilous since the sharp edges of their shells can inflict severe cuts. In Orkney, where the cult of eating them has reached its apogee, they are known as spoots and their pursuit as spooting.