Clam ID

[Jolieve]

I purchased this clam from my lfs, and was told it was a crocea. It is attached to a flat piece of rock on the bottom. Today, I was doing some reading, and the descriptions I have been reading of crocea shells do not look like this clam. So is it a crocea or a maxima?

Pics below.

 

[Jolieve]

Thanks for looking and helping if you can!

J.

 

[SnowManSnow]

I beleive you DO, in fact, own a crocea clam. Notice how smooth the shell is compared to others? It is smooth because they bore down into coral heads or live rock (also called boring clams). They wear their scutes down by this process. Somtimes it can be hard to tell if they are crocea if they have been aquacultured, because they haven't gone through this process.

According to Julian Spring, p. 368 "The Reef Aquarium" Vol. 1

"Distinguishing Characteristics: Large, wide byssus gland opening; normally smooth shell with closely placed scutes restricted to the upper margin; almost symmetrical shape; small size; frequently brightly colored and; the incurrent apeture has very small, fine tentacles (Lucas, 1988; pers. obs.). Cultured clams will have scutes along the entire body of the shell, as they have not yet ground them down through their burrowing habits. Max. Length: 9inches."

Hope this helps
B.

 

[Jolieve]

Thanks B. The stuff I was reading did not describe the shell as well as you did. It's much appreciated. Now I know I've got him in the right spot. *hugs*

J.

 

[SnowManSnow]

Those guys are pretty light hungry

 

[Jolieve]

Yeah... I know. It was unhappy with my initial placement of it. I had it sitting on a piece of rock that was just a little higher than my sand, so it looked like it was on the sand. It didn't like that very much. It kept tipping itself over onto one side. That's when I got curious about what was irritating it, the rock or the sand.

Turns out it was the sand. I moved it up higher onto my rock structure last night, and now it's behaving just like my very happy derasa. It's not moving around other than the open/close thing, mantle is fully extended. All looks well.

Thanks so much!
J.

 

[Anonymous]

Looks like a crocea to me too.