Madogai (window shell) - Madogai (English spelling) window shell

Japanese: マドガイ(窓貝) - マドガイ（英語表記）window shell

A bivalve mollusk of the family Myridae (illustration). The shell is circular and extremely flattened from side to side. It is 9.5 cm long, 10 cm high, and bulges 0.7 cm. It is silvery white and translucent, with fine radial lines on the surface. The left shell is weakly bulged, and the right shell is particularly flat. There is an eight-shaped interlocking under the apex on the inside of the shell, and a large, round attachment mark of the adductor muscle near the center. It is widely distributed in the Pacific and Indian Oceans south of Taiwan, and lives on the sandy bottom of shallow waters. The surface of the flattened right shell is polished to make it even more transparent, and it is used as a window shell like shoji paper, hence the name "window shell," and it has been used in China since ancient times.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

マドガイ科の二枚貝（イラスト）。殻は円形で左右にはなはだ扁平。殻の長さ9.5cm，高さ10cm，膨らみ0.7cmに達する。銀白色で半透明，表面に微細な放射状のすじがある。左殻は弱く膨らみ，右殻はとくに扁平である。内面の殻頂の下に八字形のかみ合せがあり，また中央近くには大きく円い貝柱の付着痕がある。台湾より南の太平洋やインド洋に広く分布し，浅海の砂底にすむ。扁平な右殻の殻表を磨いていっそう透明度をよくしこれを障子紙のようにはめて窓に用いたので窓貝の名があり，中国では古くから利用された。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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