Clam ID Request

[iced98lx]

This was sold to me as a Derasa, which was one of the species that fit my tank positioning (high light, but a clam that was happy being on the sand bed with proper rock to adhere to).

After getting it home and reading more about Derasa clams it appears this may not be one, based on the ribbing on the shell. Your opinion on ID is welcome.

It is a rather dull brown/black/gold coloration on the mantle with 5 scallops. I can get top downs fully open if that would help.

 

[iced98lx]

Here are a couple top downs just now:


Clam by Christopher Uthe, on Flickr


Clam by Christopher Uthe, on Flickr

 

[iced98lx]

The numerous closely spaced scutes combined with the lack of incurrent siphon tentacles has me puzzled. The mantle is pushing me toward thinking I've accidentally bought a gigas but I am by no means a clam expert...

 

[iced98lx]

Also, note that below the obvious scutes it is smooth the bottom 1/3 of the shell and appears to be fairly symmetrical.

 

[binder]

It looks like a maxima or crocea. I'm leaning towards maxima due to its mantle and acute on the side. I need to look into my books more to confirm though.

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[binder]

*scutes not acute

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[wjgeese]

crocea

 

[jda]

Crocea or Maxea (crocea/maxima hybrid).

 

[Leopardshark]

crocea

 

[iced98lx]

Thank you all for the input I sincerely appreciate it as I try to give this guy a chance at growing up.

Do Crocea / Maxima often lack incurrent siphon tentacles as juveniles? I can't find any clam species documents suggesting they don't have them which is what throws me off the most.

 

[Xxero]

I could be very wrong (so don't get discouraged until you hear from others or research a little more),but the Clam looks a little stressed to me. Overall, it looks great, but it looks like it might be beginning to gape a bit. Thus the lack of the filaments that you are searching for. Google image search "gaping reef clam" and you will see that the filaments are retracted due to the stretching.

Like I said, I could be wrong. But when I saw the original picture, my first thought was, "It looks like it's gaping". Just keep an eye on it and good luck! :bigeyes:

 

[Xxero]

Also, can you take another photo of the Clam's profile - just a complete side shot so we can see exactly how many ribs, etc. it has? I'm not convinced yet that it's not a Derasa.

 

[iced98lx]

I will try on the photo, but it's attached pretty well now and I'm less likely to move it. I'll see what I can do. I'll also get some more top down shots. It could have been gaping in those photos certainly, it was in the tank 48 hours at that point. I appreciate the info, I'm not trying to be argumentative on the ID by requesting reasons, just trying to grow my own knowledge as I would like to successfully keep clams and be able to identify them.

 

[Xxero]

Yeah, don't try to move it. And I keep flip-flopping on the ID. It's just that I have a Derasa, and it has 7 ribs with scutes, so.....I dunno? They look really similar.

 

[binder]

I will try on the photo, but it's attached pretty well now and I'm less likely to move it. I'll see what I can do. I'll also get some more top down shots. It could have been gaping in those photos certainly, it was in the tank 48 hours at that point. I appreciate the info, I'm not trying to be argumentative on the ID by requesting reasons, just trying to grow my own knowledge as I would like to successfully keep clams and be able to identify them.

if you want to read up on clams more and understand them better, i would highly recommend these 2 books :

Giant Clams by Daniel Knop
Giant Clams in the Sea and the Aquarium by James Fatheree

they are great reads and provide a great source of information about clams. I bought my copies used from Amazon (they may actually be out of print).

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[Softhammer]

That's a crocea. 100% not a derasa. Almost any clam can have scutes too. In the wild a crocea is a boring clam that recesses itself into the reef rock and wears its scutes off. In a reef tank I have had 5 or 6 that had a shell identical to that.

 

[iced98lx]

That's a crocea. 100% not a derasa. Almost any clam can have scutes too. In the wild a crocea is a boring clam that recesses itself into the reef rock and wears its scutes off. In a reef tank I have had 5 or 6 that had a shell identical to that.

Thank you for the input and experience, much appreciated!

 

[iced98lx]

Still alive and adding scutes if anyone is following along. I'll post some additional photos later but it seems happy on the sand bed.

 

[binder]

Still alive and adding scutes if anyone is following along. I'll post some additional photos later but it seems happy on the sand bed.

that's great to hear. I'd love to see some new pictures of it.

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[iced98lx]

Here are a few new ones from the front. Excuse the particulates in the water I was scraping the glass when I noticed the flow was raising the skirt so to speak which gave a good opportunity to see some growth. I would normally focus stack a set like this but I don't really have time. I'll try to snag a few top downs later as well before the LED's turn off.


Clam by Christopher Uthe, on Flickr


Clam by Christopher Uthe, on Flickr


Clam by Christopher Uthe, on Flickr