Tridacna squamosa

Ex Liao at 15ft while making a safety stop, 1 1/2ft long

Lee Goldman Tridacna squamosa. This one is easily identifiable by the large scutes along the valves (shell).

Ex Liao Punta engano mactan, 2m. 36cm

Ex Liao Correction 20m

Benjamin Vallejo Jr Tridacna squamosa. Good thing no one has eaten it!

Ex Liao We will be checking on it from time to time hoping no one will take an interest on it,,,,?

Benjamin Vallejo Jr Please do. They export that alive for the aquarium trade

Carl-Johan Nilsson What bothers me when labeling pictures with location is that the A**holes aka. "Aquarium collectors" scan the net and remove critters we've found. This is esp true for Benthic species like the Giant Clams.

Blogie Robillo Yeah, I thought of that too, Carl-Johan. That's why when it comes to vulnerable species, I don't indicate precise locations.

Ex Liao I assume this FB account is only open to responsible environment conscious divers like us. Instead of sharing the wonders of the ocean it now becomes a deterrent in propagating our passion to share our finds to fellow enthusiast...

Andy Gray Don't bet on it. Arseholes who collect for aquariums are all over FB, especially the divers and marine photographers pages.

Blogie Robillo That's rather discouraging, Andy. However, we're not here to prevent people from joining the page because we can't very well police everyone. Could we just do it this way: if we're posting about sensitive, vulnerable or endangered species, let's just not indicate the location, ok?

Andy Gray A while back here in Taiwan, poachers removed a fan containing 6 pygmy sea horses. They stole the whole fan! So the boat captain and many other divers must have been complicit in this crime. It is believed they collected it to sell at a marine aquarium store or for a private marine aquarium.

Blogie Robillo That's a tragedy, Andy. I hope officials in Taiwan and other countries would start prosecuting these criminals!

Minwook Kim Diamonds Athuruga housereef, Maldives

Lala Rute Perfect!!!!! :D

Ernst Andres Wonderful shot :-)

Stuart Pearce Beauty :)

Minwook Kim Thank you very much, Lala, Ernst and Stuart! :D

Donna Lavoie Beautiful!!

Ron Silver Tridacna squamosa

Minwook Kim Thank you very much, Donna!

Minwook Kim Thank you for your help, Ron! :D

John Paul Connor Manteau de lumière N'Gouja Mayotte 08/10/2013 Sony DSC-TX30

Stuart Pearce Very nice shot :)

John Paul Connor Many thanks Stuart

Annie Bodar c'est magnifique trop beau merci

Steffy Glouglou Magnifique! :)

John Paul Connor Merci Steffy et Annie océan de bisous

Ron Silver Tridacna squamosa

John Paul Connor thank you Ron

Rebecca Jay Thank you for posting. This is ....i don't have the words....so beautiful. It brings the inarticulate beauty of Nature square into my life. sorry for the gushy post...;)

John Paul Connor Many thanks Rebecca you are welcome

Rebecca Jay I'm so learning. If there is any suggestions a new diver could use, please do. My guy is from Liverpool, and an experienced diver. My main stumble is that I only have 4 lobes to my lungs, status post op. Not gonna stop me, but I need to tread lightly.

John Paul Connor I wish to dive into the deep blue

John Paul Connor grand bénitier gaufré ou manteau de lumière N'Gouja Mayotte 24/09/2013 Sony DSC-TX30

Ron Silver Fluted Giant Clam, Tridacna squamosa

Ernst Andres <3 Very very good ! <3

John Paul Connor Many thanks Ron

John Paul Connor Many thanks my friend Ernst

Stuart Pearce Very nice shot :)

John Paul Connor Many thanks Stuart

Sylvie Lalane que c est beau beau beau!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

John Paul Connor Merci Sylvie océan de bisous

Bedirnam Yilmaz MuhteÅŸem.. !

Galina Maslova Like ie

John Paul Connor Thank you Bedirnam and Galina

John Paul Connor N'Gouja Mayotte 21/09/2013 Sony DSC-TX30

Ernst Andres Very nice John. I love it and when you get close enough to the camera when the shell is open you get a beautiful play of colors. :-)

Ron Silver Fluted Giant Clam, Tridacna squamosa

John Paul Connor Many thanks Ron

John Paul Connor Thank you my friend Ernst

Ernst Andres :-) You´re welcome my friend John :-)

Stuart Pearce Very nice :)

Claudia Weber-Gebert <3

Tom Hobock Great Shot John my friend

John Paul Connor Many thanks Claudia Stuart et Tom

Diana Schwab WOW!

Stefan Follows In the details... Giant Clam - Tridacna squamosa Aow Thong Lan, Thailand EM5-NAEM5-iso 200-1/125-f6.3 12-50mm @ 43mm Macro Inon D2000 H2O Tools +5 x 2

Sorya Dolo wonderful Stefan

Stefan Follows thank you Valérie-Sorya :)

Stefan Follows In The Valley Giant Clam - Tridacna squamosa Aow Thong Lan, Thailand EM5-NAEM5-iso 200-1/125-f6.3 12-50mm @ 43mm Macro Inon D2000 H2O Tools +5 x 2

Blogie Robillo Which species of giant clam is this? Tridacna squamosa? Found it in 12m of water, measuring about 12cm across.

Blogie Robillo Andy? :)

Andy Gray hard to say it looks like a Tridacna squamosa, judging by the leaf like scales or flutes on the surface of the shell, visible in the picture. But other species have those too. I guess colour variations of the mantle are found, depending on diet. There are green,blue, brown and orange varieties

Benjamin Vallejo Jr It's a squamosa.

Blogie Robillo Thanks guys!

Blogie Robillo What about this one? I feel I may have mis-identified it: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/7970569

Stefan Follows In the details... Giant Clam - Tridacna squamosa Aow Thong Lan, Thailand EM5-NAEM5-iso 200-1/125-f6.3 12-50mm @ 43mm Macro Inon D2000 H2O Tools +5 x 2

Giorgio Cavallaro http://www.uwphotographers.net/2012/05/uwp-stefan-follows.html

Stefan Follows In The Valley Giant Clam - Tridacna squamosa Aow Thong Lan, Thailand EM5-NAEM5-iso 200-1/125-f6.3 12-50mm @ 43mm Macro Inon D2000 H2O Tools +5 x 2

Giorgio Cavallaro http://www.uwphotographers.net/2012/05/uwp-stefan-follows.html

Stefan Follows In the details... Giant Clam - Tridacna squamosa Aow Thong Lan, Thailand EM5-NAEM5-iso 200-1/125-f6.3 12-50mm @ 43mm Macro Inon D2000 H2O Tools +5 x 2

Tom Hobock Nice Job Great Shot Stephen

Stefan Follows Thanks Tom :)

Marie-therese Bertin splendide!!

Antonio Colacino Great shot :)

Ernst Andres Very good Stefan :-)

Stuart Pearce Great macro :)

Stefan Follows thanks all :)

Stefan Follows In The Valley Giant Clam - Tridacna squamosa Aow Thong Lan, Thailand EM5-NAEM5-iso 200-1/125-f6.3 12-50mm @ 43mm Macro Inon D2000 H2O Tools +5 x 2

Tom Hobock Nice Nudi

Stuart Pearce Very nice macro :)

Marie-therese Bertin splendide!!!

Annie Bodar c'est resplendissant magnifique merci

Ernst Andres Coooool Stefan <3

Stefan Follows thank you :)

Ernst Andres You are very welcome :-)

Blogie Robillo Need confirmation if this is Tridacna crocea. About 10cm wide; it was in less than 5m of water.

Lee Goldman It could be T.maxima. Could be. I say this because it doesn't have as many folds in the valves as crocea. I cant make out any scutes though...anyway, T. Maxima, as a new recruit and juvenile, also burrows into liestone substrate. It will eventually wiggle itself out of its pocket (using it valves) so that t can continue to grow larger...but i dont think i helped since i cant confirm it is either speces :-)

Benjamin Vallejo Jr Based on the mantle markings it is a juvenile Tridacna squamosa and I can see small scutes.

Blogie Robillo Oh yeah, there are scutes! So that makes it T.squamosa, yeah?

Lee Goldman Hmmm, and I thought juvenile T. squamosa had enormous scutes. All of the ones I saw at the hatchery had way oversized scutes based on the size of their valves. We used to bring them in from the Marshall Islands for our aquarium and they, too, had enormous and well developed scutes even though they were about 10cm in length...

Blogie Robillo Lee Goldman - I see! Thanks to that info, I'm now able to label my older photos of T. squamosa. So, which species do you think this one is?

Lee Goldman I would defer to Benjamin on this one and be confident with his ID. I just wanted to point out the important identification diagnostic that was, to me, not as apparent as I am used to seeing in other T. squamosa.

Blogie Robillo Ok Lee. Let's keep it at T. squamosa as per Benjamin. :)

Blogie Robillo Which species of giant clam is this? Tridacna squamosa? Found it in 12m of water, measuring about 12cm across.

Blogie Robillo Andy? :)

Andy Gray hard to say it looks like a Tridacna squamosa, judging by the leaf like scales or flutes on the surface of the shell, visible in the picture. But other species have those too. I guess colour variations of the mantle are found, depending on diet. There are green,blue, brown and orange varieties

Benjamin Vallejo Jr It's a squamosa.

Blogie Robillo Thanks guys!

Blogie Robillo What about this one? I feel I may have mis-identified it: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/7970569

Ernst Andres <3

John Paul Connor Beau détail

Christine Schlögl Wow... Genial

Ernst Andres Merci beaucoup mon ami John :-)

Ernst Andres Dankeschön Christine :-)

Ron Silver Tridacna squamosa

Ernst Andres Many thanks dear Ron :-)

Stuart Pearce Beauty :)

Ernst Andres Thank you Stuart :-)

Sylvie Lalane oh on dirait une peinture superbe

Domenico Maiorano Nice

Ernst Andres Merci beaucoup Sylvie :-) Thank you Domenico Maiorano :-)

Marie-therese Bertin que beauté !!!

Galina Maslova Awesome

Ernst Andres Merci beaucoup Marie-therese Bertin :-) Many thanks Galina :-)

Marco Paravella Thank Marie-therese Bertin

Marco Paravella Thank Galina Maslova

Marco Paravella Thanks Ernst Andres.

Ernst Andres :-) :-) :-)