Types of clams

[Splendid Warrior]

Hello,
can anybody please tell me how many types of clams are commonly availble for the hobby?

I've heard of Derasa, Crocea, Maxima and Squamosa. However, they all look the same to me and I can't tell which is which. Please enlighten me.

 

[Rock Anemone]

Here are a few:

Tridacna Crocea
Tridacna Maxima
Tridacna Squamosa
Tridacna Derasa
Tridacna Gigas
Hippopus

By doing a search on those here on RC or in the RC photo gallery, you'll get tons of pictures.

Rock Anemone

 

[johnrags1234]

Re: Types of clams

Hello,
can anybody please tell me how many types of clams are commonly availble for the hobby?

I've heard of Derasa, Crocea, Maxima and Squamosa. However, they all look the same to me and I can't tell which is which. Please enlighten me.

Rock covered the ones youll see, but Ill help you sort 'em out!

Squamosas are ussually green.brown and have scutes on their shell that are noticable and large. They also get big.

Maximas are smaller clams, have scutes too, and are much more colorful, ranging from gold to purple to blue to green

Croceas are the smallest Tridacnid, have green/blue/sometimes purple mantles and have extremely small scutes. Often times, their mantle extends a bit larger than most other clams.

HTH

John

 

[firechild]

T. maxima and T. squamosa both grow to about 40cm TL and can have pretty much any colour imaginable. Colour is an extremely poor criteria for IDing clams.
T. crocea and T. maxima have a large byssal opening which enables them to hold firmly in the rock burrows they "dig". These species also have a more rounded shell than the sand dwelling species.
T. gigas has a long flat shell and as they get large (they grow to about 1.6m long) the mantle becomes very thick and warted.

The 2 species of Hippopus clams are Hippopus hippopus and H. porcellanus.

Two species that were not mentioned are Tridacna tevoroa and T. rosewateri but it is unlikely these two will ever be available in the aquarium trade, especially rosewateri which a live specimen has never been seen.

 

[johnrags1234]

Two species that were not mentioned are Tridacna tevoroa and T. rosewateri but it is unlikely these two will ever be available in the aquarium trade, especially rosewateri which a live specimen has never been seen.

erent those mentioned in Danial Knopps Gint Clams book?

 

[firechild]

Yeah, they are.
As Knop nentions in the book, T. rosewateri was identified using shells alone so may in fact be the same species as T. squamosa.