Description

 Astarte sulcata has a thick, broadly oval, equivalve shell up to 3 cm long. It is white or pink with a thick, mid to dark brown periostracum, and is often encrusted and stained black around its prominent umbones. The shell has about 20 bold concentric ridges. There is a distinct and deep heart-shaped depression dorsally anterior to the beak (lunule) and a deep elongate depression dorsally posterior to the beak (escutcheon), both are split longitudinally by the hinge line. The adductor scars and pallial line are clear. The inner shell margin is crenulate.