title: Pharus legumen
text: # Pharus legumen
  
  Pharus legumen (also known as the bean razor clam or the bean solen), is a species of bivalve mollusc commonly found burrowed in the sand on lower shores and in the shallow sublittoral.
  
  ## Description
  
  Pharus legumen is up to 130mm long and has a characteristic bean-shaped shell. The shell colour ranges from white to light brown and it displays a light olive to yellow periostracum. The right valve has a single cardinal tooth and a short peg-like posterior lateral tooth, whereas the left valve has two elongated and closely spaced cardinal teeth and a single posterior lateral tooth.
  
  ## Distribution
  
  Pharus legumen is commonly found in the English Channel, in the north-east Atlantic and in the Mediterranean Sea.
  
  ## Similar species
  
  Pharus legumen is similar to other species of razor clam of the genus Ensis, Phaxas and Solen. The key feature to identify it is the presence of a ligament in the middle third of the shell.
  
  ## Invalid taxonomic names
  
  * Solen legumen Linnaeus, 1758
  * Ceratisolen legumiformis (Locard, 1886)
  * Ceratisolen legumen (Step, 1927)
  