Pipis

Pipis, which are closely related to clams, are found all around the Australian coast, again buried in sand. They are larger than vongole and their smooth, wedge-shaped shells are cream to pale brown, sometimes tinged with purple. As the most common sizeable mollusc found along ocean beaches in New South Wales, they constituted an important food source for indigenous Australians for thousands of years, as is evidenced by the many middens of pipi shells left behind.