Tridacna maxima clam

[Dynastes]

Here's the photosynthetic clam I mentioned. The colors appear completely different depending on angle and lighting. ~3" Tridacna maxima

 

[Peter Clausen]

Beautiful!

Are those aposematic colors? You had mentioned them being grown on farms as food, so I am surprised to see such bright colors. Though, I suppose the animal can retreat pretty quickly into a pretty impervious shell, eh?

 

[Dynastes]

It's not aposematic, blue looks black with much of any depth in the ocean. The majority of wild specimens are colored in tans and browns but are still quite pretty. Aquarium specimens are farmed for the better colors that are actually from the color of the algae in their tissues. It's not genetic, they can influence the colors by which color adult clam they grind up to give the veliger clams zooanthellae starts.

 

[Peter Clausen]

I would have guessed that something so colorful came from a shallow reef type habitat. Do they typically live at a particular depth?

I wonder what causes the algae to align in stripes, etc.

Does "veliger" mean young?

 

[Dynastes]

Hi Peter,

The depth depends on the clarity of the water but they are generally found from 4-30 feet.

The stripes and spots are probably the clam itself although the algae in different areas would be different.

Veliger is a free swimming larval stage after the trochophore.

 

[Mashku]

Hello Guys, i was on Maledives 2005 and saw a very simmillar Clam:

and a another:

Some were, small (like a Fist) some were very Big (like a ...pig)

Greetings,

Mashku.