The Washington State Department of Health tests water and flesh to assure clams are not filtering and holding pollutants, an ongoing problem. In Washington, Department of Natural Resources staff are on the water continually monitoring harvests to ensure revenues are received, and the same is true in Canada where the Underwater Harvesters' Association manages the Canadian Fishery in conjunction with Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans. It is one of the most closely regulated fisheries in both countries. The geoduck's high market value has created an $80-million industry, with harvesting occurring in the US states of Alaska, Washington, and Oregon and the Canadian province of British Columbia. As of 2011, these clams sell in China for over US$33 per kilogram or $15 per pound. The world's first geoduck fishery was created in 1970, but demand for the half-forgotten clam was low at first due to its texture. This estimate is used to predict the two percent allowed for commercial harvesting. īiomass densities in Southeast Alaska are estimated by divers, then inflated by twenty percent to account for geoducks not visible at the time of survey. In the Puget Sound, studies indicate that the recovery time for a harvested tract is 39 years. However, due to a low rate of recruitment and a high rate of mortality for geoduck eggs, larvae, and post-settled juveniles, populations are slow to rebound. A female geoduck produces about 5 billion eggs in her century-long lifespan. In Alaska, sea otters and dogfish have proved capable of dislodging geoducks starfish also attack and feed on the exposed geoduck siphon. Adult geoducks have few natural predators, which may also contribute to their longevity. A geoduck sucks water containing plankton down through its long siphon, filters this for food and ejects its refuse out through a separate hole in the siphon. The oldest recorded specimen was 179 years old, but individuals usually live up to 140 years. Research to date does indicate their presence. Whether these microsporidium-like parasitic species were introduced by commercial farming is being studied by Sea Grant. There is a growing concern over the increase of parasites in the Puget Sound population of geoduck.
The largest quantities have come from Golden Bay in the South Island where 100 tonnes (110 short tons) were harvested in one year. Ī related species, Panopea zelandica, is found in New Zealand and has been harvested commercially since 1989. Native to the west coast of Canada and the northwest coast of the United States (primarily Washington and British Columbia), these marine bivalve mollusks are the largest burrowing clams in the world, weighing in at an average of 0.7 kilograms ( 1 + 1⁄ 2 lb) at maturity, but specimens weighing over 7 kilograms (15 lb) and as much as 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) in length are not unheard of. īetween 19, the scientific name of this clam was confused with that of an extinct clam, Panopea abrupta (Conrad, 1849), in scientific literature. It is sometimes known as a mud duck, king clam or, when translated literally from Chinese, an elephant-trunk clam ( Chinese: 象拔蚌 pinyin: xiàngbábàng Jyutping: zoeng6 bat6 pong5). The name geoduck is derived from a Lushootseed ( Nisqually) word gʷídəq, either a word composed of a first element of unknown meaning and əq meaning "genitals" (referring to the shape of the clam), or a phrase meaning "dig deep", or perhaps both, as a double entendre. Geoduck for sale at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo
#Gooppy duck archive#
These annual rings also serve as an archive of past marine variability. The precise longevity of geoducks can be determined from annual rings deposited in the shell which can be assigned to calendar years of formation through crossdating. It is also one of the longest-living animals of any type, with a typical lifespan of 140 years the oldest has been recorded at 179 years old. The geoduck is the largest burrowing clam in the world. The shell of the clam ranges from 15 centimetres (6 in) to over 20 centimetres (8 in) in length, but the extremely long siphons make the clam itself much longer than this: the "neck" or siphons alone can be 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) in length. The geoduck is native to the coastal waters of the eastern North Pacific Ocean from Alaska to Baja California. The common name is derived from the Lushootseed ( Nisqually) word gʷídəq. The Pacific geoduck ( / ˈ ɡ uː i ˌ d ʌ k/ GOO-ee-duk Panopea generosa) is a species of very large saltwater clam in the family Hiatellidae.
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