candycane
Active Member
I have been getting a good deal of emails about this, so I figured I would just make a post if I could get a clam to self release from it's byssal threads.
The picture you see below is what a clam uses to attach to a substrate when it has found a suitable area. If for any reason the environment becomes unfavorable, the clam will discard what is below and move to another area. As you can see, even after the clam has left behind the threads there are still sand grains attached to them. These threads are usually very fine, only roughly the size of several strands of hair.
These two parts of the clam, all though attached directly to eachother, are known as the byssal threads and what I will call the byssal plug. The plug looks nothing like threads; it is more of a hard composite made up of the same matter however. The colors will vary from white, to gray, to brown (as seen below). 100% of the time that I have had a clam shed the below on its own, it has formed a brand new one once it has found another area where it wants to reside.
The threads and plug both are created then connected to the byssal organ and this is why you NEVER want to pull a clam once it has attached. A clam will not give up what is below easily. It would usually rather have it's entire byssal organ ripped out instead of letting go of the hold that it has on the byssal plug. I am referring to it as a byssal plug because it seems to work like an outlet plug, connected into a small cavity in the byssal organ where it is created.
If your clam moves and you notice the below is left behind, the clam will usually be fine.
Protection of this sensitive area:
One thing that seems apparent is the complete lack of blood that flows to these areas of the clam. It would appear as if old byssal threads are constantly decaying while new ones are constantly forming. Keep this in mind when you add a clam to your tank. That the bottom of the clam should be protected with a piece of reef safe rock (non-toxic tile, shells, etc.) or some sort of “softer” substrate for the safety of the clam. NOTHING is more enticing to a scavenger (hermits, bristle worms, nassarius snails, etc.) then the smell of decaying matter.
The picture you see below is what a clam uses to attach to a substrate when it has found a suitable area. If for any reason the environment becomes unfavorable, the clam will discard what is below and move to another area. As you can see, even after the clam has left behind the threads there are still sand grains attached to them. These threads are usually very fine, only roughly the size of several strands of hair.
These two parts of the clam, all though attached directly to eachother, are known as the byssal threads and what I will call the byssal plug. The plug looks nothing like threads; it is more of a hard composite made up of the same matter however. The colors will vary from white, to gray, to brown (as seen below). 100% of the time that I have had a clam shed the below on its own, it has formed a brand new one once it has found another area where it wants to reside.
The threads and plug both are created then connected to the byssal organ and this is why you NEVER want to pull a clam once it has attached. A clam will not give up what is below easily. It would usually rather have it's entire byssal organ ripped out instead of letting go of the hold that it has on the byssal plug. I am referring to it as a byssal plug because it seems to work like an outlet plug, connected into a small cavity in the byssal organ where it is created.
If your clam moves and you notice the below is left behind, the clam will usually be fine.
Protection of this sensitive area:
One thing that seems apparent is the complete lack of blood that flows to these areas of the clam. It would appear as if old byssal threads are constantly decaying while new ones are constantly forming. Keep this in mind when you add a clam to your tank. That the bottom of the clam should be protected with a piece of reef safe rock (non-toxic tile, shells, etc.) or some sort of “softer” substrate for the safety of the clam. NOTHING is more enticing to a scavenger (hermits, bristle worms, nassarius snails, etc.) then the smell of decaying matter.
