clam lovers

[andestang]

While surfing I came across this :love:. Its a T. maxima x crocea which they call a Maxea. Heard of some cross breeding between different species before but have never seen pics of one so I thought I would share.


http://aquadaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/maxima-clam-hybrid.png

[sphelps]

Sweet! Looks expensive :surprise:

[fkshiu]

Interesting. I see quite pronounced scutes which is more indicative a maxima, but it appears less elongated than a maxima would be so it may indeed by a hybrid.

[banditpowdercoat]

NICE, I have the perfect spot for it

[michika]

Want!

Where did you find this? Its pretty sweet.

[rstar]

Apparantly it is just a normal crocea, there is a LOT of controversy around wether or not it is a hybrid, with ALOT of good points on the refutal side. Apparantly a crocea that is not allowed to bore into rock will grow scutes. here is a copy/paste from another thread elsewhere. Im not posting this to start an argument, rather just for a good topic to hear what everyone else thinks!

Croceas and maximas are found together in their natural ranges, if they were going to hybridize they would have done it thousands of years ago yet there is not one DNA test to prove this. Also there is now scientific literature documenting this has ever been done. Above someone stated its well documented, well where is it?

Now if one was going to attempt to hybridize you would think they would start with two clams that are closely related, right? T. maxima and T. crocea are not each others closest relatives. T. croceas closest relative is T. squamosa. Crocea and squamosa diverged in the late Miocene (5.3 to 11.6 million years ago) Maxima diverged from the other Chametrachea’s in the middle Miocene (11.6 to 15.9 million years ago) Thats quite a large gap and plenty of time for them to have inter breed in the wild yet none have ever been found.


As for the well documented T. derasa and T. squamosa hybrids, where is the documentation? ive never found any. And again you would think they would use closely related species. Derasa and squamosa are about a far apart as you can get, squamosa being a Chametrachea and derasa being a Tridacna.

This is marketing hype, nothing more, and the seller is relying on people to just take their word and not actually try to id the clam. By simply looking at the shell instead of an unusual mantle pattern you can see that it is a crocea.

Its all in the shell folks

this copy/past was taken from this thread;
http://www.reefbuilders.com/2009/02/04/tridacna-maxea-hybrid-tridacna-maxima-crocea/

[sphelps]

When you got something that looks that good and original you can call it whatever you want. It looks like a hybrid so that's good enough, after all a purple monster isn't a real purple monster :lol: Marketing is based on what customers want and that happens to be rare and usual so the best possible product is one that doesn't exist :wink:

[rstar]

When you got something that looks that good and original you can call it whatever you want. It looks like a hybrid so that's good enough, after all a purple monster isn't a real purple monster :lol: Marketing is based on what customers want and that happens to be rare and usual so the best possible product is one that doesn't exist :wink:

Even if you are making claims of a new species? It seems underhanded, but i guess not matter what it comes down to buyer beware!

[sphelps]

Even if you are making claims of a new species? It seems underhanded, but i guess not matter what it comes down to buyer beware!
Likely got blown out of proportion, the internet has that ability. The use of the term hybrid is very common in livestock sales, especially in the states, doesn't mean anything.

[Myka]

I'm not convinced that it is a hybrid, however it is one stunning clam!! :eek:

[Drock169]

I think i have to disagree with sphelps. I dont think you can call anything whatever you want. The jewellery trade is a good example of this, for example you can trade stuff like Herkimers Diamonds, but on legal document its just going to be Quartz. If you put it down on an appraisal as a diamond, you could be sued.
In the case of the clams, I think they shouldve just gave it some new grade. They could make up a new grade above ultra.

[lastlight]

Nicest clam I've ever seen. I'd love to have something like that!

[sphelps]

I think i have to disagree with sphelps. I dont think you can call anything whatever you want. The jewellery trade is a good example of this, for example you can trade stuff like Herkimers Diamonds, but on legal document its just going to be Quartz. If you put it down on an appraisal as a diamond, you could be sued.
In the case of the clams, I think they shouldve just gave it some new grade. They could make up a new grade above ultra.
Kind of a moo point since it's a completely different industry, wouldn't you say? We don't require verified species and documentation when we by from stores. The point is it looks like a hybrid because of the ridges, that's all. I don't think anyone provided any documentation verifying it was a new species. It's just a name like all rare corals and inverts tend to develop. If I was marketing this clam I would come up with something better than new ultra grade, hybrid fits. It's just a description for a clam, it means nothing, either way the price will be outrageous.