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Clockwise from top left: Female giant-clam shrimp, Conchodytes tridacnae; Deman’s
giant-clam shrimp, Anchistus demani; male giant-clam shrimp, C. tridacnae
Opposite: Fluted giant clam, Tridacna squamosa, one of
six giant clam species inhabiting the Indo-Pacific
estimated its length with our arms spread. Later, over
cocktails, we collectively arrived at 4½ to 5 feet.
While reprovisioning in Sorong for the second part of
our trip, the steward purchased a measuring tape at the
hardware store. Back at the lagoon we bailed out of our
skiff, confident of a new world record. The clam was of
course right where we left it, as regal as we remembered
and waiting to be crowned king of clams. But measure
as we might, all we could muster was 50 inches, and
even that length was debatable. After all our starry-eyed
anticipation there was no record and no glory, but to
this day none of us has seen a clam bigger than Larry’s.
* * * * *
The hidden shrimp still isn’t budging, so my thoughts drift
again to Larry’s Giant Clam. This time I try to calculate
how long it must take for a clam to grow so massive: A
hundred years? Maybe more, I’m guessing. By filtering
food through their gills and farming symbiotic algae in
their meaty mantles, giant clams can grow two inches a
year for the first part of their long lives. Judging by this
standard, the 20-inch youngster I’m keeping company
must have settled here about a decade ago from the open
ocean as a wafer-thin larva no bigger than a grain of sand.
While I’m tabulating clam math, the shrimp bolts into
the open, moving faster than expected. I snap a shot
as it disappears behind the gill folds. Glancing down,
my camera display shows a fuzzy tail shot. Before I can
chastise myself for allowing my mind to wander, the
shrimp reappears, making the first of several passes over
a white, sun-bright background before disappearing
for good. I straighten up, snowblind and blinking. Yan,
patiently hovering off to my left, gives a thumbs up.
Later, my downloaded images reveal that somehow I
photographed not only the brawny female but also the
smaller male. With this unexpected success, Yan and I
become as quixotic about photographing clam shrimp as
Larry had been about his giant clam. The next afternoon
we locate a second shrimp species living inside the
smaller, closely related giant clam.
This blue-speckled beauty is a dream to work with,
repeatedly posing as if it wants its portrait taken. The
other critter hunters aboard are now into the game,
but a dozen eyes inspecting 10 dozen clams over the
remainder of the trip turn up nary another shrimp. AD
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