Meet the giant clam, more commonly known as “Taklobo.” Native to the waters of the Philippines and in other parts of the Pacific and Indian Ocean, these clams bear the weight of helping cultivate life in our coral reefs. They are custodians of the reef: They provide food as well as lodging to fish. Because they are filter feeders, they also clean the reef. There are eight species of giant clam in the Philippines, but the largest and most recognizable of the mollusks is the Tridacna gigas. Because of its size, Tridacna gigas has served as the poster boy of many conservation efforts–the two large shells with four to five ridges forming a rather compressed sin wave pattern are rather iconic as they’ve been overused in cartoon tropes as thrones for the mermaid king, safety deposit boxes for giant pearls and giant terrors that trap divers, consuming them slowly with their clammy gastric juices.

Fernandez, J. (2017, April 23). Meet the giant clam, the building block of our oceans. Manila Bulletin, pp. 16, 17.