Lacking cardinal teeth or cardinal structures; especially in mollusks, having a shell hinge without the main or cardinal teeth.
From Latin e- (without) + cardinalis (principal). Used in malacology (the study of mollusks) to describe shell hinge structures. First appeared in 19th-century zoological texts.
Some clams have fancy tooth-like structures on their shell hinges, but others went minimalist—'ecardine' clams basically said 'we don't need those fancy hinges' millions of years ago!
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