ABOUT

You’ve probably picked up a clam shell on the beach before. You may have even eaten a
clam! Clams are bivalves that live in both fresh water and salt water. To keep themselves safe, they like
to bury into the mud or sand. They eat by using fine, wavy hairs to pull water – and all the little particles
in it – into their mouths. They eat the particles and then spit out the clean water. This is important
because through this process of feeding themselves, the clams filter water – making it cleaner. A one-
inch clam can filter as much as 4 gallons of water a day! And there are about 15,000 different types of
clams in the world.

IN TROUBLE

Nine giant clam species have been put on the list as ‘threatened’, meaning their
populations are in decline at a worrisome rate. Climate change is making their environments warmer
and more acidic. Overfishing also hurt the number of clams, leading them to actually go extinct in some
areas where they used to live in abundance. And remember! If clams eat by taking in particles from the
water, then dirty water – filled with plastic bits and pollution – can seriously harm clams, too.

HOW TO HELP

The good news is that there are groups that are fighting to help clam populations.
They help advocate against fishing in areas where clams are threatened and they work to keep the
waters of their environment clean from run-off and pollutions spilled into the water. The best thing we
can do for the clam? Tell people about them! Share information about how important they are,
especially in coral reef communities. By teaching people about clams and the trouble they face, we can
get people to start helping to protect them, too.