Purple Semele
Semele purpurascens, (Gmelin, 1791)
Family Semelidae
The Purple Semele, Semele purpurascens (Gmelin, 1791) is often purple but is also orange, or blonde. The other colors are generally grouped under the purplish title, Semele purpurascens as the shells are the same shell but different colors. My argument is that if you call a semele purple when it's obvuiously orange that it's not accurate. These semeles are thin shells up two inches but usually just over and inch or less. teh hinge is off-center which helps differntiate them from the White Atlantic semele with centered hinges.
Semeles are thin smooth oval shells with very fine concentric lines whose hinges are off-center but point to the center. The colored variants (Purplish) are identified by a dark color at the umbo and detailed patterns around their edges. The colors are mainly purple, orange and blonde. I'm separating the patterned semeles by colors: purple, orange, and blonde(tan/yellow). I'm lising them separately but they all use the same scientific name: Semele purpurascens.
This bi-valve is related to tellins and coquintos. The semele below is translucient purplish with a reddish brown tint.
Purplish semele color mixture
Below are small juvenile orange semeles. Note that the concentric patterns around the outer edges are conspicuously missing:
Juvenile orange semeles