1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:09,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to blow your mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:19,479 Speaker 2: Welcome to Animalia Stupendium. My name is Argomandanes, former keeper 3 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 2: of the Cauldron, current Quester of the Cauldron. I seem 4 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 2: to have lost it and tireless creature chronicler, and as 5 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 2: you know, mere monsters hold no mystery for me these days. Dracolitches, 6 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 2: I'm sorry to say, are no longer dracolicious. Bore worms 7 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:41,839 Speaker 2: sadly live up to their name, but not in the 8 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:46,160 Speaker 2: way they should. So instead I turn my attention once 9 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 2: more to the strange fauna of a land called Earth. 10 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 2: Travel with me, gentle reader, as we consider. 11 00:00:55,680 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 3: The giant clam common name giant plan scientific classic occasion 12 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,480 Speaker 3: Tridacna geigis frequency and range. Coral reefs of the South 13 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 3: Pacific and Indian Oceans size up to five hundred and 14 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:11,320 Speaker 3: fifty pounds or two hundred and fifty kilograms, diet filter 15 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:18,040 Speaker 3: feeding omnivores with symbiosis, treasure hoard Tridacna pearls challenge rating two. 16 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,400 Speaker 4: Here in my home, realm giants are a diamond dozen, 17 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 4: as are the gaping mass of underwater creatures. So, my 18 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 4: fellow wizards and witches might think me quite mad for 19 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 4: my latest terrestrial obsession. For the waters of Earth, particularly 20 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 4: the shallow coral reefs of the South Pacific and Indian oceans, 21 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,960 Speaker 4: offer up a creature that is significantly smaller than a 22 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 4: hill giant and completely incapable of swallowing a man whole. Ah, 23 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 4: But that last fact has long eluded the people of Earth. 24 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:04,919 Speaker 4: Many are their tails of human divers whose arms become 25 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,919 Speaker 4: trapped in the rapidly closing shells of a giant clam, 26 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:12,920 Speaker 4: or of those jar like shells closing up over their 27 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 4: entire bodies, swallowing them whole. Certainly, things of this nature 28 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 4: occur every day in my own realm of the fantastic, 29 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 4: but not so in the waters of Earth. For assuredly, 30 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 4: while various folk traditions, tall tales, and Hollywood movies warness 31 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 4: of such killer clams and man eating clams, there is 32 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 4: no verified account of a giant clam ever, claiming a 33 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 4: human life wisdom check success. For while various accounts speak 34 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:51,920 Speaker 4: of their shells closing on the human arm that reaches 35 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 4: into steel their pearl, the fact of the matter is 36 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 4: that a giant clam simply does not close its shell 37 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 4: with enough speed to catch. Certainly, smaller clams may snap 38 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 4: their shells closed with haste, but for Tridacna geigis, it's 39 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 4: just too much mass to move in too short a time, 40 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 4: and adults cannot even close their shells completely. Yet the 41 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 4: stories persist, perhaps in large part because the clam shells 42 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 4: a pair of calcareous shells or valves joined near a 43 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 4: hinge with a flexible ligament simply remind us so much 44 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 4: of a mouth, something these organisms don't exactly have. Instead, 45 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,560 Speaker 4: they have a pair of siphons, one for drawing in 46 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 4: water and food, another for expelling waste. Furthermore, they are 47 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 4: filter feeders and have no need for any jar like mechanics. 48 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 4: They simply close or in this place nearly close their 49 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 4: shells for protection. But alas perhaps human beings are just 50 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 4: hardwired to see a gaping mar that might bite or 51 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 4: swallow them. It is a matter of survival even when 52 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 4: the threat does not actually exist. Oh and on the 53 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 4: subject of their treasure, Yes, Tridacna pearls, they do in 54 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 4: fact produce these. Like all pearls, they are products of 55 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 4: abnormal growth, generally due to an infection, and as they 56 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 4: can grow to quite large size, they can prove quite valuable, 57 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 4: but only to humans, of course. The giant clam, however, 58 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 4: is more than worthy of our attention, though regardless of 59 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 4: its pearls or whatever tall tales may circulate about its 60 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:40,000 Speaker 4: purported bite. Again, it is nothing short of the largest 61 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 4: bivalve mollusk in the ocean, and the tissue within their 62 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 4: shells often takes on rather colorful hues blues, greens, and 63 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 4: yellows that may seem to hypnotize the humble snorkeler and 64 00:04:55,680 --> 00:05:00,600 Speaker 4: bring to mind fabrics of earthly wealth or other worldly splendor. 65 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:05,559 Speaker 4: The varied colorization of these mantle tissues is, of course, 66 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:10,839 Speaker 4: not a magical affair, but rather iriticide cells. It feed 67 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:17,919 Speaker 4: light to symbiotic single celled dinoflagellate algae or zoazanvella, and 68 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:22,479 Speaker 4: it acquires the sohasanthella via its constant filter feeding in 69 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 4: the water, along with plectonic organisms that it actually eats. Thus, 70 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 4: during the day, the clam opens wide and extends its 71 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,919 Speaker 4: mantle tissue to absorb the sunlight necessary for the algae 72 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 4: to conduct photosynthesis. In return, the algae produced sugars and 73 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 4: proteins that the clam needs to survive, along with its 74 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 4: more traditional filtered diet, which it requires less of. Speaking 75 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 4: of light, the giant clam also boasts thousands of pinhole 76 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,680 Speaker 4: eye spots along the mantle's head that allows it to 77 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 4: detect changes in light, not only the cycles of night 78 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 4: and day, but the tail tale shadows of approaching predators, 79 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:13,240 Speaker 4: of which it has many, and thus it may close 80 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:17,159 Speaker 4: or nearly close its shell, though again not with enough 81 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 4: speed to capture a human being or a human limb. 82 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:25,720 Speaker 4: While Tradacna geigis is the largest, there are other species 83 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:30,160 Speaker 4: of giant clams as well, in the Tradacna genus, which 84 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 4: stems from the Latin for three bites. Going back to 85 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 4: the writings of Pliny the Elder and even the conquest 86 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 4: of Alexander the Great, it was said that these clams 87 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:48,440 Speaker 4: supplied such meat as to require not one, not two, 88 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:53,920 Speaker 4: but three bites to consume. And humans certainly consume them, 89 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:57,719 Speaker 4: not merely for their meat, but also for their pearls 90 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 4: and their enormous shells, and I've done so with enough 91 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:06,920 Speaker 4: gusto to make the organism critically endangered. This is, of 92 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 4: course a threat not only to the giant clams, but 93 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 4: to the robust and delicate coral reef environments, where they 94 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 4: serve as reef builders, water filters, and ultimately sources of 95 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 4: both food and shelter for other life forms in the reef. 96 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 4: There are more mysteries concerning the giant clam to consider, 97 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 4: but for now I must retire my wizard's quill and 98 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 4: allow my familiars some respite. But I shall return with 99 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 4: even more wonders of the natural world. 100 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 3: Hi, this is Robert Lamb. Thanks once more to the 101 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 3: Wizard Argomnnines for joining us in this episode. Sources for 102 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 3: this episode included The Secret Life of Clams by Anthony D. 103 00:07:56,120 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 3: Fredericks twenty fourteen, the websites of the University of kane 104 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 3: Bridge Museum of Zoology as well as the Florida Museum, 105 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:07,840 Speaker 3: and the writings of Plenty the Elder the Natural History 106 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:10,640 Speaker 3: and I'd also like to thank the guides and hosts 107 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 3: at Missoul Resort in raja Ampat, Indonesia who introduced me 108 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,400 Speaker 3: to giant clams in the wild, including the specimen known 109 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 3: informally there as Wu Tang clam. Thanks as always to 110 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 3: the excellent JJ Possway for producing this episode. If you 111 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 3: wish to contact Argomdines with recommendations for future episodes. You 112 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 3: can send an email to contact at stuff to Blow 113 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:38,040 Speaker 3: your Mind dot com. 114 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 115 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 116 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.