What a waste...

[darkdruid]

It's too bad this many large clams end up as lawn ornaments.
http://www.shellhorizons.com/products.asp?category=69

[brycerb]

Holy crap

[kcsalt]

Thats sick!

[ludnix]

The sad thing about the sea shell trade is that they are rarely collected after the animal is done using the the shell.

[darkdruid]

Yep, they don't wait until the owners vacate the property before they foreclose.

[Whisperer]

They're quality! I think they have to give credit to the clams for quality.

[lordofthereef]

Are these just pulled out of the water and killed or are the clams at least used for their meat. The latter would obviously be the preferential situation, although I am not sure which is the truth.

[jenglish]

I know there are islands where giant clams are aquacultured for food, so it may be that these are some of these. The exceptionally large size of these makes me think they may be wild caught, I would think that is a pretty old clam, which is not likely to have been farmed

[reefscape15]

That's rediculous that some people would actually take stuff like that out of the ocean for a profit. Makes me sick!

[silverfly]

Originally Posted by reefscape15

That's rediculous that some people would actually take stuff like that out of the ocean for a profit. Makes me sick!

I know what you mean but

ii'm gonna get it in the neck for this ........but,
are not all our fish and livestock(well most) taken out of the ocean for profit loads die. We do worse. Hopefully theyre being eaten as suggested above.

Typical Richie post and hope i didnt offend.

[melev]

Such a shame. How old those clams must have been to be killed for their shell. Obviously they are too large for most people's personal tanks, and to see a site that seems to have a plethora of them - well, do they really sell that many and who is using them?

[darkdruid]

Apparently there's a market for the shells or there wouldn't be a business selling them. So to me, it's the fault of the people buying them. If there is no money to be made, no one would be selling them. Supply and demand.

[jbird69]

Its possible the dead shells were collected. I saw an episode of "Wild Pacific" it showed a remote island in the south pacific that had millions of giant clams...alive in the water and empty shells on the beach. They said the beach is actually growing from the slow increase of shells washing up over the centuries.

Giant clams can live 70+ years. Its possible, judging from the size of the shells in the link, that those were collected after death.

Just looking at it from a different angle.

[ludnix]

Originally Posted by melev

Such a shame. How old those clams must have been to be killed for their shell. Obviously they are too large for most people's personal tanks, and to see a site that seems to have a plethora of them - well, do they really sell that many and who is using them?

I don't think they are selling these for aquarium decorations. Sea shell collection is a huge hobby and very popular. I live on the coast so I've seen lot of shops selling sea shells for general decoration or collection. Large shells like these can be easily $300-$400. They would simply be art or decoration, the buyers usually unaware or uninterested in the fact that animals likely alive prior to collection.

Although some may be collected after death, collecting live has many advantages to the collectors so long as you don't mind killing the animal inside. With the clams they will be guaranteed with get both halves of the shell. They are also less likely to be worn down from washing up on coast.

[Anthonius]

i watched a video on YouTube of some collectors getting these big clams... they make a 360* profit. they collect them live, shuck and clean them and sell the meat, then they turn around and HCl dip the shells to remove life and finally polish and sell. In a way its upsetting but from what I watched the animal is being used for 100% of its body which is more than we can say about the cow we ate on that bun last night. its rare to see an animal harvested and 100% used. so don't feel so sad for the clams even though they we gorgeous and huge. it could be much worse they could be down there cyanide fishing and killing reefs to catch some lame $9 decorative fish.

[blennymower]

Originally Posted by jbird69

Its possible the dead shells were collected. I saw an episode of "Wild Pacific" it showed a remote island in the south pacific that had millions of giant clams...alive in the water and empty shells on the beach. They said the beach is actually growing from the slow increase of shells washing up over the centuries.

Giant clams can live 70+ years. Its possible, judging from the size of the shells in the link, that those were collected after death.

Just looking at it from a different angle.

+1

Someone else made this point already: If we're going to point fingers don't just blame those that collect them, blame those that create the incentive.

[dogstar74]

In my estimation, we have such a difficult time breeding marine species, this is actually a species we can breed, we can initiate spawning of giant clams with hormones, and we can replant them in the oceans. This is far less invasive than say, ivory tusks of elephants.

Now how big of one should I get?!

Aaron

[jbird69]

Originally Posted by dogstar74

In my estimation, we have such a difficult time breeding marine species, this is actually a species we can breed, we can initiate spawning of giant clams with hormones, and we can replant them in the oceans. This is far less invasive than say, ivory tusks of elephants.

Now how big of one should I get?!

Aaron

Do you realize how long it takes for a tridacna to get that big? Theres no way those things were aquacultured that long ago.

also to the other poster, comparing 70 year old wild clams to farm raised cows is a pretty irrelevant comparrison.