Hard Clam (Northern Quahog)

Legal status: Legal to harvest recreationally by hand or ordinary tong, up to 250 clams per person per day, from open (non-condemned) areas — no license required for hand/tong personal-use harvest. This guide found a confirmed size-range rule (a 1-3/8-inch to 2-7/8-inch culling-ring pass-through range) specifically for the Hampton Flats Hard Clam Harvest Area management zone; it did not find a single confirmed statewide minimum-size figure during this research pass — verify the current size rule for your specific harvest area directly with VMRC before keeping any clam.

A thick, hard-shelled, roughly oval-to-heart-shaped clam with concentric growth rings — Virginia's primary recreationally harvested clam species. Market-size terms (littleneck, cherrystone, topneck, chowder) describe the same species at different sizes, not different species.

Identification

• Thick, heavy, oval-to-heart-shaped shell with visible concentric growth rings.
• Gray-white to tan exterior, often with a purplish interior margin near the hinge.
• "Littleneck" (smallest legal), "cherrystone" (medium), "topneck," and "chowder" (largest) are all market-size names for this one species, not separate clams.

Regional occurrence

Widespread in sandy-to-muddy bottom throughout Hampton Roads' tidal creeks, rivers, and the Bay itself.

Habitat

Buries in sand/mud bottom in brackish-to-salt tidal water.

Food use

Eat With Caution

Consumption advisory

This species has its own dedicated, in-depth regulation coverage on this guide — see Regulations →

This page is educational and does not certify that any specific animal may be legally harvested at any specific time or place. Confirm current regulations, health-closure status, and access rights before harvesting.