Small giant clam
Tridacna maxima
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 207675, checked 2026-10-31). Subfamily Tridacninae.
- English
- Small giant clam
- Scientific
- Tridacna maxima
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Maximum size
- Up to about 41.7 cm (shell length)
- Depth and habitat
- Reef-associated, recorded from 0 to 35 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2024CITES Appendix II
Description
The small giant clam is the commonest giant clam in the Maldives, usually 15 to 30 cm long, embedded in the reef with only its wavy, fluted shell edge and brilliantly coloured mantle showing. The mantle may be blue, green, brown, gold or purple, often patterned, and holds symbiotic algae that feed the clam with sunlight. It lives on reef flats and shallow slopes and closes quickly when a shadow passes over.
In the Maldives
Giant clams were the target of a Maldivian export fishery that began in 1990 (Basker 1991). Like all giant clams, it is listed on CITES Appendix II. Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=10); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=332, 117 observers); SeaLifeBase Maldives checklist.
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Tridacna-maxima.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=207675
- inaturalist.org /taxa/50589
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Almeja_gigante_(Tridacna_maxima),_Temple,_Sharm_el-Sheij,_E
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.