Commonly known as the fluted or scaly giant clam due to the characteristic leaf-like projections on its shell, Tridacna squamosa is widely distributed from the Red Sea and eastern Africa in the west to the Pitcairn Islands in the east, and from the Great Barrier Reef in the south to southern Japan in the north. T. squamosa also occurs across a broad depth range, which includes shallow reef flats, patch reefs, and reef slopes, both inside and outside of lagoons. Individuals have been observed as deep as 138 feet in the Red Sea.
T. squamosa is most easily identified based on the projecting leaf-like scales along the primary folds of its shell. The mantle is often mottled, featuring some variation of blue, green, yellow, orange, or brown.
| Kingdom | Animalia | Phylum | Mollusca | Class | Bivalvia | Order | Cardiida | Family | Cardiidae | Genus | Tridacna | Species | squamosa |
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A grant project in Guam is setting up giant clam aquaculture in two southern villages, Inalåhan and Malesso. Giant clams are a culturally important species in Guam, where they’re also regulated due to overharvesting. Credit: David Burdick
Fifteen of the 83 species included in the Pacific Islands vulnerability assessment. From left to right: Acanthurus achilles, Caranx melampygus, Tripneustes gratilla, Acanthurus triostegus, Scarus rubroviolaceus, Cephalopholis argus, Octopus cyanea, Lutjanus kasmira, Panulirus penicillatus, Triaenodon obesus, Selar crumenophthalmus, Ctenochaetus strigosus, Naso unicornis, Zebrasoma flavescens, Tridacna maxima. Photo credit: Bruce Mundy.