The biological distribution of this species spans either from Peru to the XI region in Chile (45º S; (Guzman et al. 1998)), or, according to other authors, to the Strait of Magellan in the Pacific Coast and in the Atlantic Coast through the coast of Argentina to Uruguay (Osorio, 2002 in (Pizarro et al. 2009)). It can be found from 4 to 40 meters deep (Olguín and Jerez, 2003 in (Pizarro et al. 2009)). Population structure has not been defined for this resource, but there are several studies showing different growth and reproductive parameters for several locations in the north of Chile (Pizarro et al. 2009)(Romero et al. 2011)(Urban and Campos 1994). Most landings of this resource occur in the XV, I and II regions but there are only results on the stock condition for regions I and II so these were assumed as the assessment unit. 

Traditionally the term “almejas” (clams) included several species, and even though many have already been separated and managed individually, the term still represents 5 species commercially significant (Barahona et al. 2016)(Subpesca 2018). Of those species, L. thaca represents most landings in the XV, I and II (Subpesca 2018) and some in southern regions (XIV or even X region, (Barahona et al. 2016)). Management is considered, since it is included in a group of species, to coincide with records from the management entity (Subpesca) which states that is the main species of the group in the XV-III regions (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 L. thaca landings from MEABRs were only declared once from 2012 to 2016 (2 tons in 2014; (SERNAPESCA n.d.)), therefore this profile includes only the open access regime.