The Giant Clam :: essays research papers

The giant horse is known as a reef dwellingmollusk. The domestication factor has become of macro importance to theIndo-Pacific peoples. Mainly in the ara of their diet. These huge clamsare huge targets for fishermen and can be found easily. With the crystal watercomplection of the reef water they live in makes them even easier to be spottedby the fishermen an by poachers. The people of this region eat every partof the flesh of the animal. They either dry, cook, or eat them raw. InTaiwan there has been a large illeagal industry of selling these huge clams.With a demand of somewhere around 100 slews of the meat a year that isworth around $7.50-$21.25 a kilogram at the dockside of Taiwan. It isbeing severely poached by foreigners and the population of the giant clamis decreasing. The reefs that they live on are also being severely damagedand destroyed in large amounts. The giant clam has been eliminated fromthe areas of Ind championsia and the Phillippines. The species Tridacnid g igas andthe Tridacnid derasa are the most intemperately hunted species. Tridacnid gigasare the largest of the giant clams. They grow to around a meter in lengthand weigh around 300 kilograms. These particular clams are hermaphroditeswhich reach sexual maturity at around five eld of age. They spray outlarge numbers of their eggs and sperm into the seawater which therefore meetto form a free floating larvae. A large Tridacnid gigas has the abilityto release hundreds of millions of microscopic eggs in a single day, whichmakes it one of the most fertile marine invertebrates. However most of thefree floating larvae do not survive during their one week planktonic period.The ones that survive mollify on a patch of hard reef by means of a stickybyssal threads and orient their fleshy mantles towards the sun. Theycontinue to grow their at a rate of around five to ten centimeters a year.But they are not safe from other reef predators until they are around2.5 years old, which makes this larg e species hard to find.