Clam help opinions needed

afamousjohnson · Apr 10, 2015

So I won a large clam in the raffle at our recent swap. Super good looker. But (not sure what they call them) I think they are his shoots? Basically where the mantle opens up over. I have heard they file these down to help give the uniformed open look. 1 of the shoots on this clam is extended out from the clam she'll and seems to really irritate it's mantle in that spot. Now of course they don't file them in nature - so just not positive what I should do here? Any opinions?

You can see in the pic on the left side about 3rd roll up where it's at.

Tahoe61 · Apr 10, 2015

It's an absolutely beautiful Maxima. I would not be concerned about the scutes at all. If you see an area that appears pinched or ruffled on the mantel then you might actually be looking at pinched mantel disease, a whole different ball game. It is a stunning clam.

Rock boring clams like Crocea have might of less distinguished scutes, where as a Squamosa has more pronounced scutes. No intervention regarding the length of the scutes is indicated.

afamousjohnson · Apr 12, 2015

Nice - thanks for the advice. Couldn't see myself doing anything to it just wanted to make sure it wasn't needed. Had our local clam expert stop by last night and he said along the same lines. I was worried about pinched mantel but he said it looks fine. Imagine I will still do a FW dip before I move it up into the display.