Cook Islands and Clams

[Serioussnaps]

Was watching survivor the other night...located in cook islands near australia......guess what the hell they were eating.........

tridacnids!!!!!!bastards!!!!!!

they pulled 6 or 7 clams off the reef and went to boiling....i confirmed a derasa and a maxima....man they were just boiling them away and were gonna eat them !!!

What the hell???? **** if you are hungry and think you are roughing it eating those clams...send me them today and ill send you a pack of omaha steaks damnit!!!!!!

chowing on a 200-600 dollar dinner and they say they are roughin it!!!!!

 

[TearDrop]

Were they ultra blue? If not, then it was no big deal.

 

[Serioussnaps]

they were platinum damnit....no seriously there was one of those pricey black/gold maxima's in there

 

[TearDrop]

As long as they weren't "TearDrop" maximas....

 

[alien9168]

i saw that too...

For some reason I actually noticed the clams that they were eating...and it sort of bothered me(especially with all the hobby conservation material i have read recently)

 

[Serioussnaps]

oh they were undoubtedly eating tridacnids....had a bunch of colors...most looked to be abou 4-5" long...decent sized clams and definitely not babies

too bad...i dont even know if they are edible

 

[jmaneyapanda]

people in SE Asia eat these things constantly. SDometimes they dont even cook them. Just split them open and down the hatch.

 

[TearDrop]

Alot of the clams that we see today were in the country's local market place as a simple food item. It was probably some hobbyist who started marketing them as a reef item.

 

[jiggy]

its common.. natives of those islands have been eating clams for hundreds of years. i saw a pic with a guy from papua holding a 2+ft crocea next to a bonfire

 

[PUGroyale]

On one of the past survivors [I forget where] they found and ate a clam that was at least a foot long. If I recall their comments on the show, it tasted great I liked the little damsels in the acropora they showed for a brief second...

 

[Barry N.]

Now here is one that you will love.

One of the countries where there are clam farms will not collect wild caught clams for export to wholesalers but they will collect them and then take the meat out and put in bottles to sell for food. A bottle of clams cost approx 2.25 in US money :mad2: Now I am taking maximas, 1st and Ultra grade. This country does not export wild clams but cultured they will.

You would think someone in that country would see that they would make a lot more money if they sold them to the US market.

 

[Aidos]

Clam are a traditional food item throught their range. over harvasting brought clams to the edge of economic extinction. it was the Aquaculture industry that breed large numbers of clam in shallow waters and released many clams. this has allowed the collection of clam from the wild for food and the aquarium indusrty to continue.
Dont get me wrong i would rather have it in my tank than eat them, but apparently they are really tasty.

 

[mahoneyc3]

i think id rather starve.... i just couldnt eat 200 bucks- who am i kiding, i could for a chance at the million

 

[JamesJR]

You reed the Coral magazine? The clam edition showed all these pictures of people just slurping them down like they were at an american oyster bar.
The value in the clam is in the shipping, the packaging and all the logistics. When they are in the reef they are literally worth nothing. Man, If I was hungry on an island I would have no problem eating them. When one of mine wasn't looking good I was

 

[JamesJR]

You reed the Coral magazine? The clam edition showed all these pictures of people just slurping them down like they were at an american oyster bar.
The value in the clam is in the shipping, the packaging and all the logistics. When they are in the reef they are literally worth nothing. Man, If I was hungry on an island I would have no problem eating them. When one of mine wasn't looking good I was tempted to eat it. Mmmm....

 

[Dustin]

You mean like this:

Don't forget the soy sauce.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Its funny how cultures work.

"You reed the Coral magazine? The clam edition showed all these pictures of people just slurping them down like they were at an american oyster bar. "

Why is it OK for us to eat oysters? Because we dont keep them as pets? Something to think about.

 

[JamesJR]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8268644#post8268644 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jmaneyapanda
Its funny how cultures work.

Why is it OK for us to eat oysters? Because we dont keep them as pets? Something to think about.

There is nothing wrong with eating oysters. They are animals and there is no law against eating them. I don't like the way they taste and eating them carries a risk. Pet or not I don't care it people eat them, just as I don't care if people eat tridacnid clams. There are efforts now to captively breed them and reintroduce them to the wild to ensure that human activity doesn't drive them to extinction. The only concern I would ever have is that they aren't overcollected; whether it be for food or aquariums. A clam taken out of the wild is just one more clam that can't reproduce. so it really makes no difference what happens to it once it taken out of the wild; whether it is eaten by some islander or bought by some american for his or her aquarium.

As for food, Just think about it. If you were from some place like the solomon islands or something and had this easily obtainable, safe and possibly delicious source of food available to you I think you would eat them. I don't think these people have the same notions that we do, nor do they care what we remote westerners do.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

JamesJR- I agree with you completely. It appears others , though, think that it is wrong to take a clam from the ocean for any prupose other than putting it into a fish tank.

 

[JamesJR]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8274648#post8274648 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jmaneyapanda
JamesJR- It appears others , though, think that it is wrong to take a clam from the ocean for any prupose other than putting it into a fish tank.

That is so silly. Most of these people wouldn't even know about the darn things if it weren't for the aquarium hobby. Hmmm, I am tempted to just grow one of my clams to a full size just so I can eat it.