Small Giant Clam dead
Tridacna maxima is a giant bivalve species of the Tridacnidae family. Popular among the aquarists, it is often found in a marine aquarium. In Polynesia This species is called “Pahua” and enters the local cuisine. Adults develop a large shell that adheres to the substrate with the fine woven linen, a tuft of long, tenacious filaments protruding from a hole near the hinge. It is a sessile bivalve that can reach an impressive size from 40-60 cm to 1,6 metres. During the day, it opens its mantle, often very colorful (blue, green, violet…) To ensure the photosynthesis of its symbiotic algae, which contribute to nourish it. It is however able to shrink very quickly and to close suddenly by breaking any object that could be found between its two solid valves actuated by an extremely powerful muscle. tridacna maxima morta
A sessile mollusc, the small giant clam attaches itself to rocks or dead coral and siphons water through its body, filtering it for phytoplankton, as well as extracting oxygen with its gills. However, it does not need to filter-feed as much as other clams since it obtains most of the nutrients it requires from tiny photosynthetic algae known as zooxanthellae. Beginning life as a tiny fertilised egg, the small giant clam hatches within 12 hours, becoming a free-swimming larva. This larva then develops into another, more developed, larva which is capable of filter-feeding. At the third larval stage, a foot develops, allowing the larva to alternately swim and rest on the substrate.
After eight to ten days, the larva metamorphoses into a juvenile clam, at which point it can acquire zooxanthellae and function symbiotically. The juvenile matures into a male clam after two or three years, becoming a hermaphrodite when larger (at around 15 centimetres in length). Reproduction is stimulated by the lunar cycle, the time of day, and the presence of other eggs and sperm in the water. Hermaphroditic clams release their sperm first followed later by their eggs, thereby avoiding self-fertilisation.
(extract from Wikipedia)
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