Giant Clam: the Largest Seashell in the World
ENThis big shell is a monster. Huge. It's not for nothing that they call it a "giant clam". I've never seen one as big as this one in Raja Ampat.
The giant clams of Mioskon
Ah, Indonesia... I can't stop raving about the surprises that each new trip there brings me.
In July 2012, back in the archipelago of Raja AmpatEverything continues to amaze me. This is my second stay in these places (see the first one: in March 2012), but it's impossible to be jaded.
The small island of Mioskon, with its unusual cloud of bats above its cute white sand beach, conquered me.
Underwater, another curiosity awaits me: the world's largest shell... 😲
My friends Jimmy and Julia from Sorido Bay Resort, who are accompanying me on this new dive, warned me: "Get your camera ready, they tell me in the Anglo-Saxon way (the term camera designating anything that captures images, from cameras to video cameras). You'll see, there are some beautiful clams!"
The giant clam, also called giant tridacne (Tridacna gigas is a gigantic shellfish, measuring up to 1.50 m in length and weighing over 200 kg. It is the largest bivalve mollusc.
Yes, it can be eaten - the flesh of the shell is edible - but it is prohibited. The species is endangered and protected. It is quite common in the warm seas of the Indo-Pacific area.
Before this trip, it is probably at Pulau Wehon the other side of Indonesia, and also in Bali on the side ofAmedI had to see the biggest ones.
But here. I mean, really. It's bigger than any giant clam I've ever seen before. It's enormous! As ever, in Raja Ampat, the "usual" tropical fauna is a cut above anything seen elsewhere in Indonesia.
On the Mioskon site, there are several clams. But there is one very big one, much bigger than the others. Its yellowish-brown flesh pulsates, spilling out in big, fleshy, purplish lips over the shell. All of this in the middle of the coral, which is teeming with life, as always.
Update July 2016 : I returned to Raja Ampat, several years after this trip in July 2012. I went back to Mioskon, in particular in January 2015then in november 2015Every time, I couldn't wait to find the big shell again! Sadly, in July 2016, on another trip to Raja Ampat, I discovered, stunned, that this magnificent and spectacular clam had died. Gone was the throbbing purplish-brown flesh... Underwater, all that remained of this Mioskon clam was an enormous, empty gray shell. Nobody could tell me what had happened to it (illness, fishing). It made me a little sad, the disappearance of this giant shell... I consoled myself with other clams of good size, on other sites, notably Chicken Bay. I've posted a photo below.
Profusion
At Mioskon, when you've had enough of staring at the clams, you'll be mesmerized by the countless schools of yellowtail snapper, coiling and uncoiling at shallow depths near the reef.
There's also a good chance of catching wobbegongsthese funny bearded shark-tapis that look nothing like with terrifying things full of teeth seen in certain films...
The one pictured below "took off" from the reef without warning. I hadn't seen it!
I scared him and he ran off. But he ran straight towards me and I just had time to trigger my "camera", in a hurry.
Fortunately, I also have with me some cooperative human models, who deign to stop for a moment above the schools of fish...
In short, there's plenty to do, with all the junk coming from everywhere...
Profusion. This is the word that comes to me every time to talk about Raja Ampat.
Even the most "mundane" site here is extraordinary for the abundance and variety of fauna to be found here, and for the colors and density of the coral.
No, really, nowhere else in Indonesia - except maybe some sites in Komodo - Neither in Malaysia nor in Thailand, I had this feeling of incredible profusion under water.
"Raja Ampat, where all the fish lives!" like to say Max Ammera pioneer of diving in the archipelago. And he's not wrong. All the fish live here!
At the end of the dive, at shallow depth, I settle in front of an imposing pink anemone, home to the "usual" clownfish.
I watch them for a moment. There's a little family, frightened by my arrival, huddling under the protective tentacles of their "home". It's been a long time since I've photographed a "Nemo"... I sometimes tend to disdain them during my dives, as I've stored too many of them on my hard drives.
But this time, the beautiful velvety mauve of the anemone tempts me. Come on, one last one for the road!
➜ To see all the articles about my dives at Raja Ampat : one click here !
In echo to "your" giant stoup, comes to my mind "La cathédrale engloutie" by Debussy; I listened again to this prelude while reading the article, and there is a beautiful correlation between them; we could also summon painters, so beautiful are the colors! Thank you 😉
@Ysbilia: I'm going to listen to this underwater prelude right now... 😉
I'm just starting scuba diving this year, so I'll be taking my level 1 soon. I discovered your blog a few months ago, and your pictures make me dream while waiting for the real sea dives 🙂 Wow, these clams are gigantic! The only ones I could observe were within snorkeling range in the Mozambique Channel... they had piqued my curiosity despite their modest dimensions, but the ones you make us discover are spectacular! Out of curiosity, how deep were they? Thank you!
@Tonton photo: Welcome below the surface and happy to give you to dream, already, with my photos !! 🙂
I don't remember the exact depth, but this dive at Mioskon was within the "normal" limits of recreational diving, with no particular difficulty as far as I remember. I think that the clams must not have been very deep, probably around 20 meters, maybe less.
Congratulations for the preparation of level 1 and good bubbles!
🙄
Hello and happy new year to all of you,
My guide has more or less measured a Benitier R4, I do not know which site. the beast was between 1.40 and 1.50 m.
I had decided not to go back after 2 cruises, R4 is too far away, requires too much time and ... money. But here is that the desire takes me back and this blog only strengthens this desire.
Gerard
@ Gerard: Yes, I think the clams I saw were well over 5 feet tall... Really impressive!!!
As for Raja Ampat, I won't go back there right away either, after two trips there, because it is indeed very very expensive. But I don't regret it at all. It is really worth breaking the piggy bank...
Anyway, I'm very happy to see that my little articles make you want to leave. That's the only purpose of this blog... To make people want to travel !!!!
🙄
The clams are really impressive ... the whale of the molluscs.
And then these waters teeming with fish, it's magical!
@Piotr: The "whale of mollusks", excellent!!! 😆
Beautiful images ...
Question of neophytes: are they alive these molluscs?
@Curious Traveler: But of course!! Like mussels or oysters... 🙄
It is very impressive under water. As I wrote earlier in the article, you can see their flesh pulsating inside the shell. It's a really weird thing.
We can also see them filtering water through a circular hole that looks like a tube and, if you get too close, the clam "feels" the threat and as if to close its shell... Better not to risk putting your hand in it, at the risk of having it crushed.
While leafing through the info on Koh Lipe ................. I landed on the article of the giant clam !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
About ten years ago I had seen some big ones on the Michaelmas site near Cairns, but this one is really impressive.
@Bertrand: you can find everything on these Petites Bulles d'Ailleurs... 😉
Yes, I think the Mioskon clams are the biggest I have ever seen. I remember seeing some pretty big ones in Bali too.
Hello Corinne!
Do you have any information about the prices of hotels, resorts or homestay in Raja Ampat? I just came back from Bali and Lombok and the Gili Islands.... a little disappointed by the corals massacred with dynamite, I really want to go to Raja Ampat but I read in a post above that it is very expensive...?
Are there any plans to pay less? at the inhabitant for example...? thanks for your help 🙄
@Audrey: everything is there, compiled at the end of this link:
https://petitesbullesdailleurs.fr/plonger-raja-ampat-voyage-20130303/
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Hell'eau!
The Perhentian ones are already huge, I think over a meter for some, but then there!!! I hope you had fun running your hand over it... 😉 It emits an amazingly powerful jet of water... Great your photos anyway!
Anthony: Alleau!!! 😆 Yes, it's not the first time I see giant clams or giant clams, I actually saw some again recently in Sipadan, but the ones in Raja Ampat were particularly spectacular...
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