Giant clam. View of a giant clam (Tridacna sp.) amongst corals on a reef. This is a large filter- feeding bivalve mollusc which may have a shell over

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Giant clam. View of a giant clam (Tridacna sp.) amongst corals on a reef. This is a large filter- feeding bivalve mollusc which may have a shell over a metre wide and weigh over 200 kilograms. Giant clams mainly live in shallow coral reefs around the edges of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The soft lining of the shell's edges (the mantle) contains colonies of symbiotic Zooxanthellae algae which provide oxygen for the clam through their photosynthesis. In turn, they feed on particles of the clam's food and waste. The mantles of giant clams are often brightly coloured in blue and green due to the presence of the colonies. Photo- graphed at Dhiffushi, in the Maldive Islands.

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Size: 5190px × 3510px
Photo credit: © RUDIGER LEHNEN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: algae, animal, bivalve, clam, coral, corals, giant, invertebrates, mantle, mollusc, mollusca, nature, sp., symbiosis, tridacna, wildlife, zoology