#bivalves
A hinged shell does not a clam make (QUIZ)
Bivalves are so named for their two hard shell valves made of carbonate, linked by a soft ligament acting as a hinge. They use a strong adductor muscle to close their shell, and the relaxation of the muscle allows the springy ligament to reopen (you might be familiar with adductor muscles as the edible tasty part of a scallop). In deference to the bivalves, laptops and flip-phones are called…
Weird Clam Profile: Hammer Oysters
Malleus malleus from Indonesia. Source: WikipediaOyster. Reading that word, you probably formed an image in your mind of a rough-shelled creature with a shiny mother-of-pearl (nacreous) inside that someone pulled out of some silt in an estuary. And yes, that’s what most oyster’s look like. Some oysters are of additional economic value through their creation of pearls. These pearl oysters have…
The boring giant clam is anything but.
Tridacna crocea, bored into a coral head on a reef in PalauThere are many types of giant clam. Not all of them are giant; the boring giant clam, Tridacna crocea, only grows to 10 cm long or so. The boring giant clam is not so named because it’s dull; its main skill is its ability to bore into the coral of its coral reef home and live with its entire shell and body embedded in the living coral.…
Weird Clam Profile: The Heart Cockles
Corculum cardissa (from Wikipedia)The heart cockle (Corculum cardissa) is so named because of its heart shaped shell shape. It is native to warm equatorial waters of the Indo-Pacific. While many bivalves sit with the their ventral valve facing down, the heart cockle sits on its side, with one side of both valves facing downward. the valves have adapted to resemble wings and are flat on the bottom
Oh, the seasons they grow! First thesis chapter published. [research blog]
My latest clamuscriptis published in Palaios, coauthored with my advisor Matthew Clapham! It’s the first chapter of my PhD thesis, and it’s titled “Identifying the Ticks of Bivalve Shell Clocks: Seasonal Growth in Relation to Temperature and Food Supply.” I thought I’d write a quick post describing why I tackled this project, what I did, what I found out, and what I think it means! Raw…
Behold, my new favorite creature
Porcellanopagurus nihonkaiensis wearing a bivalve shell (Source)Some of you may be aware that I harbor great affection for hermit crabs. I own terrestrial Caribbean hermits. Your mental image of hermits may feature a wardrobe of gastropod (snail) shells, which are by far the most common mollusk contractor they use to construct their homes, but as I’ve discussed, they actually have great…
Some clams are bloodsucking parasites. And it’s a remarkable achievement!
Lampsilis showing off its convincing fish-like lure. Photo: Chris Barnhart, Missouri State.Clams are traditionally the victims of the aquatic realm. With some exceptions, clams are generally not predatory in nature, preferring to passively filter feed. When they are attacked, their defenses center around their protective shell, or swimming away, or just living in a place that is difficult for…
Hard shells aren’t actually that hard to make (yet)
One of the Antarctic bivalve species featured in this study. Source
Like all organisms, bivalves have a limited budget governing all aspects of their metabolism. If they put more energy into feeding (filtering the water), they can bring in a bit more food and therefore fuel more growth, but sucking in water takes energy as well, particularly if there isn’t enough food to be filtered out. Bivalves…
Clam and ammonite fossils from North Texas that are approximately 100 million years old. The ammonites are in good enough condition that shell joints are visible. Check out www.olsensminerals.com to see them.
Children’s books, as previously discussed, are generally something of an easy win. Even a washed-up princess can dream up a basic narrative given a sufficiency of mid-priced Rioja. Then all you need to do is pad your yarn out with some kid-friendly repetition. Lots and lots of repetition. Boom! You’re done.
But because it’s easy, everyone’s at it. Anybody with a bit of profile knocks out a kids’ title sooner or later. Geri Halliwell, Madonna, Carlos The Jackal, the lot.
So why, given the sheer tsunami of brat-lit, should anyone give my latest offering the time of day?
Well, because it has a unique USP.
Most modern books for the young focus on excitement, adventure, humour, and a profound sense of moral justice.
All things that, once these young readers grow to maturity, they will find are lacking in the real world.
Stories about boy wizards giving the bad guy in the nose-cancelling headphones his comeuppance are all very well, but it’s hardly going to teach youngsters valuable lessons about the four ennui-laden decades in a call-centre that await them.
Surely the preparation for the interminable dullness of adulthood is a simply-told tale of a little creature that stays in one place, doing nothing of interest and sucking up other peoples’ crap
And that’s Shelley’s story. Nothing happens to her. There’s no peril, so there’s no danger of story time leading to nightmares. There’s barely any incident at all. The tide washes in and out, and our bivalve heroine resolutely sticks to her rock. And that’s about that.
It’s ripe material for the repetition that professional educators maintain is essential for building language skills, and the literary minimalism represents a sizeable cost-saving too.
Rather than printing dozens and dozens of different pages, all requiring their own printing plate, we just print one. Over and over again. Add in a run of endpapers, carrying my reputable byline and the all-important price, and Bob is almost certainly your uncle. At least that’s what your mum says.
Any publisher with his (or her) salt will be on this one like a seagull on chips. I await your response. I’ll be in my beach hut.