Dr. Dan KillamWe got #clamfacts over here! 🔔
Come on over to get yer #clamfacts 🔔
Facts about ruthless little clams, peaceful giant clams and all those in-between kinda clams. That's what we got, no more no less.
kdnyhan@dantheclamman I would like #ClamFacts please. Where I grew up, we could collect huge "hen clams" rolling around on top of the mud in water about waist height at the lowest of low tides.
1 Do they live on top of the mud (instead of buried on it) their whole lives?
2 Are hen clams threatened by invasive green crabs like other clams in Maine are?
Thank you!
1 Do they live on top of the mud (instead of buried on it) their whole lives?
2 Are hen clams threatened by invasive green crabs like other clams in Maine are?
Thank you!
@kdnyhan I have heard surf clams (Spisula solidissima) referred to as hen clams!
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/atlantic-surfclam
Those the ones you talking about? They live shallowly buried in the sediment lot of their lives, but may emerge to relocate according to the tides, predation and other stressors. I am not aware of whether surf clams are considered as vulnerable to green crab predation as other species like soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria). #clamfacts
@dantheclamman I've never seen such small ones as in the picture, but the description matches. Yikes, I didn't know I might be eating 35-year-old clams.
Follow-up Q: the surf clams that I harvested and ate, did they probably spend their whole lives in that cove? Or did they move around over the years?
Follow-up Q: the surf clams that I harvested and ate, did they probably spend their whole lives in that cove? Or did they move around over the years?
@kdnyhan they probably were native to that cove. While the ones you ate may have been 35 years old, it's more likely they were younger, since they grow so quickly
Andrew Kornblatt@dantheclamman I would like one clam fact please
@akornblatt clams have growth lines in their shells similar to tree rings! Depending on species, these may be formed every year, every tidal cycle or every day! They may also make growth lines when reproducing, or when under stress from predation! These lines are like pages in their diaries that scientists can read #clamfacts
Dr Janine Krippner@dantheclamman I didn't know that I needed clam facts until this very moment and I thank you for it.
glennmagusharvey@glennmagusharvey here's a combo! Snails in the Juliidae family have evolved two-valved shells!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliidae
While there are bivalves that have evolved to have only one shell, like the tubular watering pot shell
http://www.realmonstrosities.com/2015/12/watering-pot-shell.html?m=1
Or no external shell at all, such as the bizarre "naked clam", which looks kinda like a slug!
https://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/Molluscs/Chlamydoconcha%20orcutti/index.html
Evolution is stream always winding back in on itself!
@dantheclamman wow
I'm very curious as to the evolutionary pathways that got these species to where they ended up.
Billy Sunday@dantheclamman I'm pro-clam