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Tridacnidae

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Also known as subfamily Tridacninae

Tridacninae, common name the giant clams, is a taxonomic subfamily of very large saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Cardiidae, the cockles.

Species

FAMILY

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumMollusca
  3. ClassBivalvia
  4. OrderVenerida
  5. FamilyTridacnidae
Habitatmarine
Observations recorded209

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
17
With media
1
Family
Tridacnidae
Collections
CAS, USNM, OMNH
Recorded in
Marshall Islands, French Polynesia, Philippines, Fiji, Guam, Indonesia

~2 min read

Encyclopedic overview

6 sections
Contents
  • Description
  • Systematics
  • Human relevance
  • Evolutionary history
  • References
  • External links

Tridacninae, common name the giant clams, is a taxonomic subfamily of very large saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Cardiidae, the cockles.

==Description== This subfamily contains the largest living bivalve species, including Tridacna gigas, the giant clam. They have heavy shells, fluted with 4–6 folds. The mantle is usually brightly colored. They inhabit coral reefs in warm seas in the Indo-Pacific region. Most of these clams live in symbiosis with photosynthetic dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae), a type of photosymbiosis.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Tridacnidae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.