Dr. Dan Killam1d ago
Polynesian cultures have used giant clams for food and shell-based crafts for thousands of years. The clams, which take years to reach maturity, can quickly be fished out if they aren't responsibly managed. A new study found that traditional management approaches in American Samoa, which include village elders coming to consensus on seasonal and size-based harvest restrictions, are highly effective at maintaining their populations, sometimes more than federally managed Marine Protected Areas! #clamFacts
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/traditional-protection-proves-more-successful-for-clams-in-american-samoa/
Traditional protection proves more successful for clams in American Samoa

For coastal Indigenous communities in American Samoa, giant clams are deeply rooted in fa‘a Sāmoa (the Samoan way of life) and local food systems. According to the findings of a study published in PeerJ, it is village-based protections like fa‘asao (fishery closures) that have helped conserve giant clams lying in the islands’ shallow water coral […]

Conservation news
Dr. Dan KillamMar 9
While oysters lack ears, they still can hear, using statocysts, their balance organ. Researchers have found playing the soundscape from a healthy oyster reef attracts larvae to settle! They have evolved to settle on their ancestors to build reefs, and sound is a useful cue of a good spot! https://phys.org/news/2022-10-sea-soundscapes-summon-thousands-baby.html #clamFacts
Playing sea soundscapes can summon thousands of baby oysters, and help regrow oyster reefs

Imagine you're in a food court and spoilt for choice. How will you choose where to eat? It might be the look of the food, the smell, or even the chatter of satisfied customers.

Phys.org
Show threadDr. Dan KillamFeb 19
@LianaBrooks it is by far the most successful home for #clamFacts
Dr. Dan KillamFeb 18
The Nuculidae, or nut clams, are small, funky little guys. They do not filter-feed, instead extending tentacle-like labial palps to draw food to their mouths (deposit feeding). Most other clams have evolved to grab food with their gills, having internalized the labial palps to help sort food inside the shell. Nuculids also lack the helpful snorkel-like siphon used by many bivalves for breathing and feeding. These traits plus some other morphological features has led them to sometimes be classified as a "primitive" group! #clamFacts
Dr. Dan KillamFeb 16
I still learn new #clamFacts all the time. TIL of the rosy bitterling! Freshwater mussel larvae are famed for grabbing onto fish to ride upstream attaching to the gills or other surfaces and often stealing resources from the host fish. The rosy bitterling fish flips the script and lays its eggs in the gill cavity of mussels, with the male then adding insult to injury depositing sperm. The embryos live embedded in the gills, emerging as tiny fish!
Dr. Dan KillamFeb 14
Happy Bivalventines 💗
Heart cockles are the flatfish of bivalves, opening on their sides. They partner with symbiotic algae to get part of their nutrition! #clamFacts
Dr. Dan KillamJan 30
One of a bivalve's most important organs: its gills. The gills are covered by tiny micron-scale cilia in feather-like branching patterns, which wave in the water, grabbing prey and carrying them down to be sorted and eaten, or spat back out. The clam controls the cilia directly via its nervous system when it smells its food floating by! Some bivalves like scallops can also see phytoplankton moving by, triggering waving of the cilia. Ciliary movement can also be triggered in many species by dosing with serotonin. #clamFacts
Show threadChris HayesJan 29
@chuls @FediTips #ClamFacts 😆
Show threadDr. Dan KillamJan 17
@szakib yes, bivalves remove tens of thousands of tons of nitrogen a year from waters around the world (indirectly), by eating plankton that metabolized the nitrogen! they excrete a small amount of nitrogen back into the water, but for many species it ends up working up to net removal! there are even some unusual clams, like giant clams, that partner with photosymbiotic algae within their bodies. they actually suck up nitrogen directly, to feed their internal symbionts, and basically never pee because their symbionts just keep cycling all the internal nitrogen of the host! #clamFacts
Show threadsoaprootJan 15
@madeindex People come to the Fediverse for the decentralization, or control over their feed, or whatever, but they stay for the #clamFacts .