This clam’s distribution expands over four countries, from Peru all along the Pacific Coast of Chile down to the Strait of Magellan and up to Argentina and Uruguay on the Atlantic Coast (Guzman et al. 1998). It lives buried in sandy-muddy bottoms from the intertidal to 40 m deep (Subpesca 2006). There is one study were genetics dynamics are researched, finding that disjunct clam populations behave like a homogenous genetic unit, with high recruitment, larval exchange and low interpopulation heterozygosity (Gallardo et al. 1998). Notwithstanding, a unique biological stock cannot be considered because the study was only performed in the X region, lacking the understanding of connectivity with the remaining clam beds distributed along the Chilean coast. The resource is studied and managed on areas where landings are higher, X-XI region. There is a management separation even inside the X region (north and south), but this is due to manufacturing plants and historic landings, as biological parameters are considered to be the same in both units ​(Cavieres and Canales 2016)(Hurtado et al. 2016)(Barahona et al. 2017). Different assessments are carried out in each of the units - Chile X North, Chile X South, Chile XI - thus distinct profile trees are considered.

Chilean fisheries’ administration entities (Subpesca and Sernapesca) have traditionally treated the stock as "almejas" (clams), as fishermen would, including several species of clams within. Of those species, A. antiqua (Venus or Leukoma antiqua for the administration) accounts for most landings in the south of the country (Subpesca 2018).

In Chile there are two management regimes for benthic resources, either open access, meaning that any fishermen with license for the resource could exploit it (on designated regions), or Management and Exploitation Areas for Benthic Resources (MEABRs), allowing the exploitation of resources on certain areas to fishermen of a certain fishing union. In the case of A. antiqua landings from MEABRs represented only 0.3% of the total declared landings from 2012 to 2016 (SERNAPESCA n.d.), therefore this profile includes only the open access regime.