Range: East coast pf North America; Introduced to West coast of North America and Europe Habitat: Sandy-bottomed, inner-coastal saltwater waterways Size: Up to 4 inches (10.16cm) long Diet: Plankton Threats: Moon snails, whelks, skates, and humans Life span: Up to forty years

Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about quahogs. Quahogs have many names - hard clams, hard-shell clams, cherrystones, littlenecks, but really they’re all the same animal. There are also ocean quahogs, but we’ll be covering those in a separate episode. Quahogs are native to North America’s East coast. They’ve also been introduced to the West coast of North America and to parts of Europe. Quahogs live in sandy-bottomed, inner-coastal saltwater waterways that experience tidal effects, usually no more than 50 feet (15m) deep. They need moving water to help them collect food and excrete wastes.

Quahogs eat by extending two siphons into the water column and sucking in water. The water passes over their gills and food particles such as plankton are trapped and moved to the clam’s mouth via cilia. They’re kind of like the coast’s vacuum cleaners! This can make them bad to eat, though. Quahogs make up one of the biggest economic shellfish markets in North America. In some places, such as Virginia Bay, the quahog industry can generate more than $5 million dollars annually.

Humans have actually been using and consuming quahogs for quite awhile. Native Americans have been eating these clams for centuries, and they even introduced settlers to quahogs as a food source. What’s kind of crazy is that, at first, European settlers wouldn’t even eat the quahogs, but once they did they couldn’t stop. Supposedly, the progenitors of clam chowder were native Americans; New England clam chowder is just a spin off from the Native Americans’ original recipe! Native Americans also used quahog shells as tools as well as decorative attire, and the purple inside of the quahog shell has been utilized as currency.

The inside of a quahog’s shell can display brilliant shades of purple, though the outside is typically unspectacular in terms of color variety appearing in shades of mostly dirty whites and browns. Some hatchery raised quahogs, however, can have zig-zag patterns on their shells! The outside of a quahog’s shell is rigid with growth rings that can vary in spacing thus creating a surface that’s not uniform.Quahogs are triangular or egg-shaped and have two shells that come together at a hinge called the umbo. Each of their two shells are usually similar in size and shape. They can reach 4 inches (10.16cm) in length, though it takes them a while to get there!

A quahog’s life begins as an egg. As long as the temperature is appropriate for a developing quahog egg, within 24 hours of fertilization, a larva will hatch. The larva will develop over the course of one to two weeks until it begins to form its own shell and settles onto the seafloor. The larval stage is a difficult time for quahogs as they are predated by basically anything that will eat larva sized meals. Some research indicates that only about 10% of quahog larvae will reach adulthood. It takes about a year before quahogs are ready to breed. As adults they’re eaten by moon snails, whelks, skates, and of course, humans among other creatures. Quahog shells are heavy and will sink to the ocean floor where they may be used as homes for crabs and shrimp. If they can avoid predators, however, the full life of a quahog can be more than 40 years!

For more facts on quahogs check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.