Speckled pattern of algae in the skin of a Giant Clam's (Tridacna gigas) mantle.
Nikonos RS SLR camera; Nikonos 50mm objective and Rene Aumann UW Services X2 teleconverter; two Nikonos S-105 strobes; Ektachrome VS film; F16; 1/125s; TTL. Taken at: 20m depth, diving from MS. FeBrina. Trip organised by Chris Newbert of RS Tours. Shot on: 07:40 11 March 2004; sunny day, flat calm with no current. The giant clam is the world's largest bivalve mollusc, weighing over 200kgm and growing to over one metre across. It's siphon can pump huge quantities of water to filter out plankton, but its preferred feeding method is much lazier – it lays with its shell wide open stretching its mantle in the sun, and through photosynthesis the algae living embedded in the tissue produce sugar which is adsorbed directly into the flesh of the clam. The intricate colour patterns come from this algae.
Size: 8273px × 5315px
Location: Little China, Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea.
Photo credit: © Malcolm Ross / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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