WEBVTT - How Do Geoducks Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brains Duck, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Lauren Bolebaum. Here. The Gui duck is not a

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<v Speaker 1>type of duck, and it's not particularly guy spelled geo duck.

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<v Speaker 1>The Gui duck is the world's largest burrowing plam, averaging

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<v Speaker 1>just over two pounds or right around a kilo in

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<v Speaker 1>weight including their shell. But unlike say the giant clam,

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<v Speaker 1>which is almost all shell, the Gui duck's shell is

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<v Speaker 1>small compared to its soft body. Its body length can

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<v Speaker 1>be up to three feet or a meter long, and

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<v Speaker 1>its shell is usually only about six to eight inches

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<v Speaker 1>long or about fifteen to twenty centimeters, which means that

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<v Speaker 1>its shell only covers about a fifth of the Gui

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<v Speaker 1>duck's body. That body is composed of a meaty mantle

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<v Speaker 1>that fits mostly inside the shell, and a long, thick

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<v Speaker 1>neck or siphon that protrudes out for one end. It

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<v Speaker 1>has two openings at the tip of the siphon, so

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<v Speaker 1>it looks sort of like an elephant's trunk or a

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<v Speaker 1>worm with spouts. And look, I'm not trying to be

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<v Speaker 1>rude or edgy here, I'm just being accurate. It looks

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<v Speaker 1>really phallic. They're found in the northern part of North

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<v Speaker 1>America's Pacific Coast, from Puget Sound up along British Columbia

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<v Speaker 1>and into Alaska. Natural beds of them exist on many

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<v Speaker 1>public beaches, but they're rarely visible except at very low tides.

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<v Speaker 1>I say beds because these clams make a home by

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<v Speaker 1>burying themselves two to three feet down up to about

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<v Speaker 1>a meter in the mud, sand or gravel at the

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<v Speaker 1>ocean's floor. Oh once they're in, they're in for life.

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<v Speaker 1>They use their siphon to poke up above the sea

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<v Speaker 1>bed into the water. Again. The end has two openings.

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<v Speaker 1>They're a filter feeder, so one is for drawing in

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<v Speaker 1>gulps of water from which they glean oxygen and food

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<v Speaker 1>a phytoplankton, and then they push out excess water and

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<v Speaker 1>inedible stuff through the other opening. They can retract into

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<v Speaker 1>the sea floor to avoid predators, but again cannot fully

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<v Speaker 1>retract into their shells. Gooby ducks reproduce through what's called

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<v Speaker 1>broadcast spawning. Male clams release sperm into the ocean water,

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<v Speaker 1>a prompting female clams to release eggs a couple million

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<v Speaker 1>that ago if and or when they meet and fertilize

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<v Speaker 1>in the water larvae form and begin swimming around, eating

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<v Speaker 1>algae and growing their shells. Over a few weeks, they'll

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<v Speaker 1>get heavy enough that they sink to the seafloor and

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<v Speaker 1>burrow down. As they get older and bigger, they burrow

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<v Speaker 1>further down, and then they just eat and breathe and

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<v Speaker 1>hang out for oh say a century or so. They

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<v Speaker 1>grow pretty fast during their first few years of life,

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<v Speaker 1>reaching about one and a half pounds in five years

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<v Speaker 1>and their full size by fifteen years, though yes, they

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<v Speaker 1>can live much longer than that, over one hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>fifty years. Every year they build a new layer of

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<v Speaker 1>their shell from the inside, so you can see the

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<v Speaker 1>size that the shell was in previous years by looking

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<v Speaker 1>at the rings formed on the outside as each progressively

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<v Speaker 1>larger layer has been added from underneath. The scientists count

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<v Speaker 1>and measure the rings of their shells to assess climate

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<v Speaker 1>change over the decades. The oldest known Gui duck was

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred and sixty eight years old, and the largest

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<v Speaker 1>found in Discovery Bay, Washington, was eight point two pounds

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<v Speaker 1>that's three point seven kilos. And guy ducks aren't just

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<v Speaker 1>curious specimens, they're local delicacies. Indigenous peoples in the Pacific

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<v Speaker 1>Northwest have harvested guy ducks for hundreds or perhaps thousands

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<v Speaker 1>of years and ate them fresh or smoked. Their harvest

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<v Speaker 1>continues to this day, with Native American tribes holding treaty

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<v Speaker 1>rights to half of the shellfish harvest in Washington State's

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<v Speaker 1>Puget Sound to prevent commercial overfishing. The harvest of guy

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<v Speaker 1>ducks is tightly monitored and regulated, and has been in

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<v Speaker 1>various ways since the nineteen twenties. These shellfish are popular

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<v Speaker 1>outside of the Pacific Northwest too. Most of the clams

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<v Speaker 1>are shipped to China. They're a popular ingredient around the

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<v Speaker 1>lunar New Year. They typically go for about twenty to

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<v Speaker 1>thirty dollars a pound wherever they're sold, though prices as

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<v Speaker 1>high as three hundred dollars per clam are not unheard

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<v Speaker 1>of in upscale restaurants around Hong Kong. The limited harvest

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<v Speaker 1>and high prices that guy ducks fetch have led to

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<v Speaker 1>the unlikely sounding crime of clam rustling and shellfish smuggling.

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<v Speaker 1>In the early two thousands, wildlife authorities put away the

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<v Speaker 1>head of a smuggling ring on the conviction of illegally

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<v Speaker 1>harvesting a million bucks worth of guy ducks. People are

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<v Speaker 1>also giving gui duck farming a try, which is approximately

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred percent less likely to end and arrest, but

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<v Speaker 1>the technical and environmental details of which haven't entirely been

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<v Speaker 1>ironed out yet. I have never tried guy duck myself,

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<v Speaker 1>but from what I understand, they can be tender to crunchy,

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<v Speaker 1>to chewy to meaty, depending on how they're prepared, with

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<v Speaker 1>a delicate sweet, a fresh to slightly oceany flavor. I

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<v Speaker 1>get the idea that's like squid, but more flavorful. The

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<v Speaker 1>siphon is the edible part of any clam, and you

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<v Speaker 1>get a lot of it with a guy duck. They're

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<v Speaker 1>eaten in all the ways that other molluscs are eaten,

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<v Speaker 1>Simmered in soups and hot pots, sliced raw into sushi

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<v Speaker 1>or sushimi or savice or crudo, a baked or stir

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<v Speaker 1>fried or barbecued or breaded and deep fried or ground

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<v Speaker 1>and deep fried in fretters, and beyond all of that.

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<v Speaker 1>There is a school that has adopted the guy duck

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<v Speaker 1>as its mascot. Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington is

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<v Speaker 1>known for its quirky curriculum structure, and focus on freedom

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<v Speaker 1>of speech and the exchange of ideas. Like the Guy Duck.

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<v Speaker 1>Evergreen says that they are quote accessible to all who

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<v Speaker 1>are willing to dig deep. I'll leave you today with

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<v Speaker 1>their college chant Go guy Ducks, go through the mud

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<v Speaker 1>and the sand. Let's go siphon Hi, squirt it out,

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<v Speaker 1>swivel all about, let it all hang out. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>is based on the article The Gooby Duck is the

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<v Speaker 1>World's most not Safe for work mollusk on HowStuffWorks dot Com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Kristen Hall Geisler. Brain Stuff is production of

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<v Speaker 1>iHeartRadio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com, and it

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<v Speaker 1>is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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<v Speaker 1>you listen to your favorite shows.