It shows just how little we know about marine life and biodiversity when a new species is discovered in an area as well studied as the Red Sea. This time it’s a giant clam, Tridacna costata. Despite being called a giant clam, it’s actually only medium-sized, growing up to 40 cm in length and weighing up to 2kg. They seem to live in shallow waters and have a relatively short breeding season which coincides with the seasonal plankton bloom. As most condom users may not realise, “costatus” in latin means “ribbed”, which refers to a zig-zag outline to its shell.
Fossil specimens show that around 125,000 years ago this species made up around 80% of the region’s giant clams, but now they may be critically endangered. By a strange coincidence (or not), humans are believed to have appeared in the Red Sea area, and a large, abundant, easily accessible food source, such as these clams, would have been an ideal food source. It is quite possible that the dramatic decline in their population was an early example of over-exploitation of a marine resource by people. But sadly not the last example, what with shark-finning decimating shark populations.
Photograph above is from the BBC. The research is presented in the Current Biology journal.
