The University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute grows four species of clams. According to the institute, “Four species of giant clams are bred here and raised in an ocean nursery by my colleagues at the University of the Philippines in an effort to restock the bivalves, whose wild populations are perilously low.”
The species are the the true giant clam (T. gigas), the smooth giant clam (T. derasa), the fluted giant clam (T. squamosa), and the bear paw clam (Hippopus hippopus). Some of them can grow up to 500 kilograms and are the biggest in the world.
According to studies and records, the Philippines spent more than three decades restoring the clams and has been gaining success in marine protected areas.
In the 70s, the giant clams were close to becoming extinct, but there were efforts after that to reproduce the close-to-extinct species.
The largest clam Tridacna gigas can weigh up to 500 kilograms with a shell of over a meter long. It is the second heaviest invertibrate in the planet.
