It has been estimated to have constituted 80-90% of the clams throughout the delta and was so abundant that heaps of the shells formed ridges that stretched for miles.

[6] Studies of the clam have been used to infer the original extent the estuary in the absence of earlier survey data.

Isotope analysis of oxygen in the shells of the clam have also been used to independently estimate rates of salinity, and the results from this approach were found to correspond with observations of the prevalence of the clam shells, and also to agree with numerical models proposed in the past.

[7] Damage to shells was used to assess the trophic importance of this species, and it was found to be a major source of food for crabs and predatory gastropods.

On the basis of these studies, it was predicted that restoration of water flow in the Colorado River would result in an increase in this species, which would result in an increase of species that depend on it for food, including commercially valuable crabs.