Hinge line

{{Short description|Place where a bivalve's halves meet}} [[File:Mytilidae hinge.jpg|thumb|The hinge of a blue mussel, Mytilidae]] A '''hinge line''' is an imaginary longitudinal line along the dorsal edge of the shell of a bivalve mollusk where the two valves hinge or articulate. The hinge line can easily be perceived in these images of a mussel shell and an ark shell.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://paleo.cortland.edu/tutorial/Bivalves/bivalvemorph.htm | title=Bivalvia Morphology | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129012821/http://paleo.cortland.edu/tutorial/Bivalves/bivalvemorph.htm | archive-date=2020-01-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shellmuseum.org/BivalvesLeal.pdf |title=Bivalves |accessdate=2012-11-13 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511085317/http://www.shellmuseum.org/BivalvesLeal.pdf |archivedate=2013-05-11 | author=J.H. Leal | website=www.shellmuseum.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=Invertebrate Paleobiology on-line syllabus on Bivalves| first=Burt | last=Carter | publisher=Georgia Southwestern State University | url=http://itc.gsw.edu/faculty/bcarter/paleo/labs/moll/biv2.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225231137/http://itc.gsw.edu/faculty/bcarter/paleo/labs/moll/biv2.htm | archive-date=2020-02-25}}</ref>

The hinge teeth, structures which control the articulation of the valves, are often but not always situated along the hinge line. [[File:Arcidae hinge.jpg|thumb|Part of the hinge line of one valve of an ark shell, Arcidae]]

==References== <references />

Category:Mollusc shells