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Giant clams need clear water for their algae photosynthesis. They are also highly prized for their effervescent, colored shells. In China, the shells are often sold as decorations.
Mantle of giant clam with light-sensitive spots, which detect danger and cause the clam to close. Tridacna gigas, the giant clam, is the best-known species of the giant clam genus Tridacna. Giant clams are the largest living bivalve molluscs. Several other species of "giant clam" in the genus Tridacna are often misidentified as Tridacna gigas.
Mollusc shells (especially those formed by marine species) are very durable and outlast the otherwise soft-bodied animals that produce them by a very long time (sometimes thousands of years even without being fossilized). Most shells of marine molluscs fossilize rather easily, and fossil mollusc shells date all the way back to the Cambrian period.
The southern giant clam is a popular food item and aquarium species, and has therefore been hunted extensively throughout its natural habitat. [6] However, specimens traded today tend to be the result of aquaculture farms rather than wild-caught individuals, because the southern giant clam was one of the first clams to be bred commercially. [ 6 ]
The maxima clam (Tridacna maxima), also known as the small giant clam, is a species of bivalve mollusc found throughout the Indo-Pacific region. [3]They are much sought after in the aquarium trade, as their often striking coloration mimics that of the true giant clam; however, the maximas maintain a manageable size, with the shells of large specimens typically not exceeding 20 centimetres (7.9 ...
Sometimes the giant clams are still treated as a separate family Tridacnidae, [1] but modern phylogenetic analyses included them in the family Cardiidae as a subfamily. [2] [3] Two recent genera and eight species are known: Hippopus—2 species; Tridacna—10 species; Recent genetic evidence has shown them to be monophyletic sister taxa. [4]
The umbones are towards the anterior end of the valve and the growth rings are most noticeable near the margins. The shell material is thick and the exterior is white and usually chalky in appearance. The periostracum is yellowish brown, wrinkled and loose. The ligament is external and there are several U-shaped cardinal hinge teeth on each valve.
Tonna galea, commonly known as the giant tun, is a species of marine gastropod mollusc in the family Tonnidae (also known as the tun shells). This very large sea snail or tun snail is found in the North Atlantic Ocean as far as the coast of West Africa , in the Mediterranean Sea and the Caribbean Sea .