Saltwater
Fluted clam
Tridacna squamosa
Cardiidae
Facts
Water values
Seen here
Seen in the wild in Australia, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Egypt, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, India, and 33 more countries.
More about the species
About the species
Tridacna squamosa, known commonly as the fluted giant clam and scaly clam, is a species of bivalve in the family Cardiidae. It is one of a number of large clam species native to the shallow coral reefs of the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is distinguished by the large, leaf-like fluted edges on its shell called 'scutes' and a byssal opening that is small compared to those of other members of the subfamily Tridacninae. Normal coloration of the mantle ranges from browns and purples to greens and yellows arranged in elongated linear or spot-like patterns. Tridacna squamosa grows to 40 centimetres (16 in) across. Sessile in adulthood, the clam's mantle tissues act as a habitat for the symbiotic single-celled dinoflagellate algae (zooxanthellae) from which it gets a major portion of its nutrition. By day, the clam spreads out its mantle tissue so that the algae receive the sunlight they need to photosynthesize.
Other names
In other languages
- Squamosa
- Fluted giant clam, Giant clam, Scaly Clam
