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Related FAQs: Tridacnid Identification,
Tridacnid Behavior, Tridacnid Selection, Tridacnid
Compatibility, Tridacnid Systems, Tridacnid
Lighting, Tridacnid Placement, Tridacnid
Feeding, Tridacnid Disease,
Tridacnid Disease 2,
Tridacnid Health 4,
Tridacnid Health 5, &
Tridacnid
Reproduction, Giant Clams, Tridacnids
2, Tridacnids 3, Tridacnids
4, Tridacnid
Clam Business, Bivalves,
Bivalves 2,
Lighting
Marine Invertebrates,
Related Articles:
Got Tridacna? A beginner's guide to keeping Tridacnid clams
by
Laurie Smith,
Example Chapter from
NMA Reef Invertebrates book, on Giant Clams,
A Brief
Guide to the Selection and Placement of Tridacnid Clams by Barry Neigut,
Bivalves, Mollusks,
Lighting Marine Invertebrates,
/The Conscientious
Marine Aquarist
The Giant Clams,
family Tridacnidae
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Bob Fenner |
Tridacna gigas, Australia
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Superfamily Tridacnacea, Family Tridacnidae, the Giant Clams
Typically with heavy shells of a convoluted nature, often
ribbed on their outside with scales. Mainly found associated with stony corals,
sometimes embedded in their matrix.
| Tridacnid mantle. The extension of the mantle encourages
photosynthesis by symbiotic zooxanthellae located in the Clam's tissues;
removing carbon dioxide to supply the algae, who in turn produce oxygen
and sugars for the Clam. |
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| Hippopus hippopus (Linnaeus 1758), the China Clam.
Malay Peninsula to Australia, out to Micronesia and Tonga. Found in
shallows on reef flats and patch reefs. To sixteen inches shell width. No
large opening at the shell base. Brownish mantle with many fine white
lines of its surface. This one in captivity. |
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| Tridacna crocea Lamarck 1819, the Crocus Giant or Burrowing
Clam. Malay Peninsula to the GBR; Philippines, Guam, Fiji. Distinguished
by having about six rounded ribs highly adorned with fluted scales. Small
species; to about six inches across. Filter feeder that also utilizes
photosynthates. A couple in
captivity and a close-up taken in Australia's
Great Barrier Reef. |
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| Tridacna gigas (Linnaeus 1758), the Giant Giant Clam.
Smooth shell with no concentric sculpturing. The largest bivalve and
mollusk in the world at up to 1.3 meter in length. Malay Peninsula to
Marshalls and Fiji. At right: One in an exhibit at the Waikiki Aquarium,
Honolulu, Hawai'i, and a big-boy (about four feet across) at "Cod
Hole", in the Coral Sea, north of Cairns, Queensland, Australia, and
a four incher at Barry Neigut's Clams Direct business in San Diego, CA.
Below a really big valve of a gigas at Marty Beals Tideline in Los Angeles
(137 kg. about 41" across at the widest... and BobF... too heavy and wide as
well... Photo by James Fatherree. Oh, James says the world's record is
54"/137cm. wide and much, much heavier (220 kg.s)... More than RMF by far! |
 
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| Tridacna derasa (Ruding 1798), the Derasa Clam. Cocos
Keeling, Australia, Fiji, Indonesia and the Philippines. Very low
sculpturing on the shell, which has its base near the anterior end rather
than posterior (as all other species of Tridacna). Shells can close
tightly together (unlike T. gigas). Often yellow/golden streaking in
mantles. |
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| Tridacna maxima (Roding 1798), the Large Giant Clam.
Has well-developed concentric growth folds. South Africa to the Red Sea
out to the Line Islands, but not in Hawai'i. Common in its range. To
about sixteen inches in diameter. Characterized by elongate,
triagonal shells, dense, narrow-spaced folds on the shells (wavy
appearance). Fiji and Red Sea and captive juvenile images below. |
Bigger PIX:
The images in this table are
linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to
the larger size. |
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| Tridacna squamosa Lamarck 1819, the Fluted Giant
Clam. Distinguished by the presence of large leaf-like fluted edges on its
shell. South Africa to the Red Sea to the Marshall Islands. To sixteen
inches across. Relies on photosynthesis for a major part of its
nutrition. Below: These in Pulau Redang, Malaysia are near full size.
Next, aquarium and Red Sea images. |
Bigger PIX:
The images in this table are
linked to large (desktop size) copies. Click on "framed" images to go to
the larger size. |
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.JPG) |
Bibliography/Further Information:
www.clamsdirect.net
| Here's James Fatherree and Barry Neigut out in front of the latter's
San Diego-based Clams Direct business location... both have been working
on a Tridacnid Husbandry book for ages... when will Knop's decade old
work be supplanted? Pic by RMF... Oh, is now! 2006. |
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