Boring Giant Clam
Tridacna crocea
Protection Status
Quick Facts
About the Species
Tridacna crocea is known commonly as the boring giant clam based on its habit of boring into and fully embedding its body within the substrate. It is the smallest giant clam species and is distributed from Australia and Japan in the west to Palau in the east. In the wild, T. crocea will typically be found with only the mantle exposed at the surface of the substrate, exhibiting brilliant shades of blue, green, purple, white, or brown.
Scientific Classification
Kingdom | Animalia | Phylum | Mollusca | Class | Bivalvia | Order | Cardiida | Family | Cardiidae | Genus | Tridacna | Species | crocea |
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Featured News
Management Overview
NOAA Fisheries is proposing to list Tridacna crocea as threatened throughout its range based on the similarity of appearance* of certain products derived from this species (e.g., meat that has been removed from its shell, shell carvings, and pearls) to those derived from Hippopus hippopus, H. porcellanus, T. derasa, T. gigas, T. mbalavuana, and T. squamosina. To mitigate a significant law enforcement challenge associated with this “similarity of appearance” concern, NOAA Fisheries is proposing to prohibit the import and export of such derivative parts and products of T. crocea into and from the United States. Please see the proposed rule for additional information regarding this proposed listing.
* Section 4(e) of the Endangered Species Act authorizes the treatment of a species, subspecies, or population segment as endangered or threatened if: “(a) such species so closely resembles in appearance, at the point in question, a species which has been listed pursuant to such section that enforcement personnel would have substantial difficulty in attempting to differentiate between the listed and unlisted species; (b) the effect of this substantial difficulty is an additional threat to an endangered or threatened species; and (c) such treatment of an unlisted species will substantially facilitate the enforcement and further the policy of this Act.