I really am at a loss that this is even still up for discussion. Not every crocea looks exactly the same, but the traits that both exhibit are clearly crocea. The fact that this is even being labeled as a "mystery" is utterly baffling from my point of view.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15302317#post15302317 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DSR
I am back to thinking it is a maxima. The shell shape of a crocea is different from the picture you provided above.
If it were a maxima, the length would be nearly 2 times as long as it is tall.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15302317#post15302317 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DSR
The maxima's shell is longer than tall and the chutes are constant and are very closely packed together. Just lke in your picture. It is true that Croceas can have chutes, but they are typically not as "organized" as those found on maxima.
They're scutes and they are organized; on larger clams, they are organized around the edge of the shell. Distance between, size, shape of the scutes themselves are variable and depend on where the clam grew, how fast it grew, genetics, etc. A maxima would have scutes all the way down to the base of the shell.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15302317#post15302317 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DSR
Also the new pic your provided is very symetrical (sp... it is late/early). The deminisions are nearly the same front to back top to bottom that is how the crocea is supposed to look and is different from teh mystery clam. So my vote goes back to maxima.
Crocea clams are only perfectly symmetrical when they are small. It appears that the second clam pictured is significantly smaller than what we are calling the mystery clam. As they get larger, you will note that crocea clams are somewhat shorter than they are long, but they will never get as elongate as a maxima.
Please, look at the link I provided, as it has excellent pictures on how to identify tridacnids. Take a look at the shell that they use to identify crocea clams:
If you think that doesn't look exactly like the "mystery clam," then I don't know what to tell you:
Also, keep in mind that the two sides of crocea clam shells are not identical and trying to compare one specimen from the "top" to another from the "bottom" is going to give you some variance.
Honestly, I think that IFbettas had the best advice when he said to read Fatheree's book.
I've offered as much information as I can in this thread and I'm really not interested in arguing so...
**unsubscribe**