Giant Clam

Tridacna gigas. Indo-Pacific. Soft body replica 1998.

Giant clams are the largest clams in the world and are now strictly protected. The shells together with a soft body replica can be seen only at the NHM Vienna.

KILLER CLAM
The largest clam in the world was named “killer clam” because it supposedly closed its shell on pearl divers who then drowned. However, there is no evidence that such deadly encounters ever happened.
At all events, giant clams are not man-eaters, but harmless filter feeders that survive on micro-organisms. The algae that live on the clam’s rubbery, colorful mantle tissue are a supplementary source of nutrition through photosynthesis. In order to create a constant flow of water, the giant clam always keeps it shell slightly open. Only when a ray of light suddenly hits it does the shell close. Should that happen, anyone caught in the shell could only free themselves by cutting the adductor muscle; weighing up to 250 kilograms, the clam has enormous strength.
On the contrary, one thing is unquestionable: many “killer clams” have fallen prey to man, because they make large pearls, because they taste good, and because their shells are very decorative.