Cool Clam Dissection Blog

Hello, Dallas. It's the enraged Zucchinis again, here with another installment of our dissection series and today we've got a treat for you. Today we explore the wonderful, stupendous, amazing...clam. That's right, but before we open it up and take a peek inside, let's have some background information. The clam can be found on the seabed of fresh as well as salty bodies of water. Clams are known as filter feeders, which means they pump water through their bodies, trapping small organisms in their gills, such as plankton, which they can consume. As the water passes through the siphon of the clam, carbon dioxide and wastes are removed from the body of the clam, and the water is expelled through the siphon. Incidentally, there is a particularly interesting type of clam that is appropriately named the giant clam, for its four foot size. This clam is said to have an average life span of about 100 years. Now that we've got some context about clams, let's talk dissection. Take a look at the pictures below where we've opened a clam up to show you their external and internal anatomy.

Now that you've seen the final product, watch this video to see how we did it!

https://youtu.be/XO6XXeP8gJ0