The giant clam or giant tridacne can be up to 1.50 metres long and weigh more than 200 kg. C'is the largest shell in the world! (Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)
The giant clam or giant tridacne can be up to 1.50 metres long and weigh more than 200 kg. It is the largest shell in the world! (Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)

The biggest shellfish in the world

#RajaAmpat #Papua West #Indonesia

  Indonesia: Alor + Raja Ampat - July 2012

Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation made from a post originally written in French. My apologies for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have been generated during the process. If you are reading French, click on the French flag below to access the original and correct text: 

This big shell is a monster. Huge. It is not for nothing that it is called "giant clam". I have 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.

Mioskon Island (Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)
Mioskon Island (Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)

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 biggest shell in the world... 😲

Near the island of Mioskon, a giant clam. (Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)
Near the island of Mioskon, a giant clam. (Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)

My friends Jimmy and Julia, from Sorido Bay Resortwho are accompanying me for this new dive, warned me: "Get your camera ready, they tell me in the Anglo-Saxon way (the term "camera" refers to anything that captures images, camera as well as video camera). You'll see, there are some beautiful clams!"

The giant clam, also called giant tridacne (Tridacna gigas of its scientific name), is a gigantic shellfish, which can measure up to 1,50 meter long and exceed 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. Honestly. It surpasses all the giant clams I've ever seen before. It is huge! As always, in Raja Ampat, the "usual" tropical fauna is a notch above anything you can see 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.

The giant clam or giant tridacne can measure up to 1.50 meters long and exceed 200 kg. It's the largest shellfish in the world! (Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)
The giant clam or giant tridacne can measure up to 1.50 meters long and exceed 200 kg. It is the largest shellfish in the world! (Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)
This giant tridacne is really spectacular. (Mioskon, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)
This giant tridacne is really spectacular. (Mioskon, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)

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 2015I was always looking forward to finding the big shell! Unfortunately, in July 2016, during a new trip to Raja Ampat, I discovered, stunned, that this beautiful and spectacular clam was dead. Gone was the throbbing purplish-brown flesh... Underwater, all that remains of the Mioskon clam today is a huge, empty, gray shell. Nobody knew what could have happened to it (illness, fishing). It made me a little sad, the disappearance of this giant shell... I consoled myself with other clams of nice size, on other sites, notably the one in Chicken Bay. I put a picture below.

My dive guide Fred poses in front of another giant clam four years later at the Chicken Bay site. (Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2016)
My dive guide Fred poses in front of another giant clam four years later at the Chicken Bay site. (Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2016)

Profusion

At Mioskon, when you get tired of staring at the clams, you can be mesmerized by the countless schools of yellowtail snappers that roll in and out of the shallow reef. There is also a good chance to see wobbegongsThose funny bearded shark-tapis that don't look at all like the terrifying things full of teeth that we see in some movies...

The one whose picture I took below "took off" from the reef without warning. I had not seen it!

I scared him and he ran away. But he ran straight towards me and I just had time to trigger my "camera", in a hurry.

A wobbegong (bearded carpet shark) "takes off" from the reef right in front of me. (Mioskon, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)
A wobbegong (bearded whale shark) "takes off" from the reef, right in front of me (Mioskon, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)

Fortunately, I also have with me some cooperative human models, who deign to stop for a moment above the schools of fish...

My friend Julia poses over a school of yellowtail snappers, which are numerous in the waters of Mioskon (Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)
My friend Julia poses above a school of yellowtail snappers, numerous in the waters of Mioskon (Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012).

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.

The reefs of Raja Ampat are home to a profusion of life. (Mioskon, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)
The reefs of Raja Ampat are home to a profusion of life. (Mioskon, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)

Even the most "banal" site here is extraordinary for the abundance and variety of fauna that we encounter, 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. He is not wrong. All the fish live here!

At the end of the dive, at a shallow depth, I settle down in front of an imposing pink anemone, which shelters the "usual" clownfish.

I observe their carousel for a moment. There is a small family there, frightened by my arrival, huddling under the protective tentacles of its "home". It's been a long time since I photographed "Nemos"... I tend to disdain them during my dives, I have too many stored in my hard drives.

But this time, the beautiful velvety mauve of the anemone tempts me. Come on, one last one for the road!

Hello Nemos! (Mioskon, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)
Hello Nemos! (Mioskon, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, July 2012)

➜ To see all the articles about my dives at Raja Ampat : one click here !

  Indonesia: Alor + Raja Ampat - July 2012

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  1. 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 😉

  2. 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!

    1. @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!
      🙄

  3. 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

    1. @ 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 !!!!

      🙄

    1. @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.

  4. 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.

    1. @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.

  5. 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 🙄

  6. 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!

    1. 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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