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Tridacna
Tridacna is a genus of large saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the subfamily Tridacninae, the giant clams. Many Tridacna species are threatened. They have heavy shells, fluted with 4 to 6 folds. The mantle is often brightly coloured. They inhabit shallow waters of coral reefs in warm seas of the Indo-Pacific region. These clams are popular in marine aquaria, and in some areas, such as the Philippines, members of the genus are farmed for the marine aquarium trade. They live in symbiosis with photosynthetic algae (zooxanthellae). Some species are eaten by humans.
All species in the genus Tridacna are protected under CITES Appendix II.
10 branches of this genus, most-observed first
Small Giant Clam
speciesTridacna maxima
Fluted Giant Clam
speciesTridacna squamosa
Boring Giant Clam
speciesTridacna crocea
Gigas Giant Clam
speciesTridacna gigas
Noah's Giant Clam
speciesTridacna noae
Smooth Giant Clam
speciesTridacna derasa
Tridacna elongatissima
speciesTridacna elongatissima
Tridacna squamosina
speciesTridacna squamosina
Rosewater's Giant Clam
speciesTridacna rosewateri
Devil Clam
speciesTridacna mbalavuana
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Tridacna in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 50592.