蚌蛤，古時亦作「蜯蛤」，即蚌與蛤，古人常將「蚌」、「蛤」混稱。東漢•許慎 《說文解字》將「蛤」分為「海蛤」、「牡厲」、「魁蛤」等三類，在今日分屬蛤科、 牡蠣科、蚶科等不同科目，能代表具兩片相等殼的「雙殼綱」軟體動物的三種主 要類型，因此，皆為本文蒐羅觀察的對象。本文從歷史的角度，分先秦、秦漢、 魏晉南北朝等三個時期，依序考察各歷史階段中，古人對「蚌蛤」的生理認知、 生活應用、心靈感知等消長變化情形，以明瞭唐以前「蚌蛤」文化的源流發展， 可作為考察唐代及其以後「蚌蛤」文化特徵的基礎知識，並由博物學、海洋文化、 海洋文學等視角見出「蚌蛤」的文化價值。

Mussel clam (蚌蛤, also known as ‘蜯蛤’ in ancient times) refers to a combination of mussels and clams. The ancients often used the terms 'mussel' and 'clam' interchangeably. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xu Shen's Shuowen Jiezi (literally ‘Discussing Writing and Explaining Characters’) categorized 'clams' into three types： "sea clams", "muli" and "kui clams". These three major types represent the bivalve mollusks characterized by two symmetrical shells, which are the subjects of observation in this paper. From a historical point of view, this article divides into three periods： pre-Qin, Qin-Han, Wei-Jin, Southern-Northern Dynasties . It examines how the ancients’ the physiological cognition, daily application, and spiritual perception of "clams" changed and developed in each historical stage before the Tang Dynasty. This provides the basic knowledge for investigating the cultural characteristics of "clam" in the Tang Dynasty and after, and shows the cultural value from natural history, marine culture, and marine literature perspectives.