Anatomy Of A Clam

Giant clams are huge sessile creatures that inhabit the shallow areas of the marine coral reefs. Clam anatomy is shockingly not unlike human anatomy.

Mollusks Bivalves Marine Biology New Jersey Scuba Diving

Clams are sexual animals and reproduce through spermatozoic means.

Anatomy of a clam. Many have a siphon. The soft tissue above the foot is called the visceral mass and contains the clams body organs. The ligament provides tension to bring the valves apart while one or two adductor muscles can contract to close the valves.

Males and females release sperm and eggs respectively and these combine as they free float in the wild to form zygotes. Like all mollusks a clam has a mantle which surrounds its soft body. Bivalves are easily distinguished from other molluscs by the presence of two shells or valves.

Phylum mollusca class bivalvia. Sessility refers to the inability of certain animals to move around. If youre talking about a whole freshly shucked clam the dark part that sticks up is called the neck.

The soft body inside of the shell includes a muscular foot gills or ctenidia used for respiration and feeding muscles a digestive system nerves a three chambered heart and an open circulatory system with sinuses. Anatomy of a pacific razor clam razor clam shells. Some species such as the hard shelled clam here have siphons for directing water flow in and out.

A pacific razor clam has a mouth a heart kidneys gills and an anus. If you hold a clam by the neck after the belly has been removed theres a strip that hangs from it. A hinged joint and a ligament connect two elongated calcium based shell halves.

They will be able to identify the major internal organs o f a clam and their functions. Owing to its sessile nature the moment the giant clam chooses a spot as its home it fastens itself to the same. Anatomy of a clam and describe the function of important external features.

Clams are marine mollusks with two valves or shells. Pacific razor clams are bivalves. External and internal anatomy of a freshwater mussel.

In zygotic form clams drift while gradually developing a shell. Clams also have kidneys a heart a mouth a stomach a nervous system and an anus. Internal clam anatomy remove mantle to observe thickened region ati mantle gonadal tissue reproductive system anterior adductor posterior y adductor palps and digestive system kidney and anus gills palps adductor excretory system gills respiratory sstem gills system foot mantle.

It also has a muscular foot which enables the clam to burrow itself in mud or sand. They filter water as they. A clam in its lifecycle may be male female or hermaphroditic.

Hard Clams Barnegat Bay