A man in the United States was thrilled when he caught a giant clam, thinking he could cook clam porridge for several people. However, he found the clam to be quite unusual and was extremely surprised to learn its age. Fortunately, he hadn’t cooked it yet!
Rare things often appear when we least expect them, and in the case of this American man, he almost turned an extraordinary creature into porridge!
A few days ago, Blaine Parker was walking along the coast of Florida, hoping to find something to cook. Suddenly, he spotted a giant clam.
Parker’s first thought was that the shell of this clam was so large it could be used to hold clam porridge. The meat inside must be enough to serve at least two people.
He took the clam home and weighed it, discovering it was 1.18 kg.
Parker and the clam he caught. (Photo: Tallahassee Democrat).
However, as he was preparing to cook the clam, Parker suddenly wondered if it might be a special species. Luckily, Parker is a graduate in Marine Science and Environmental Studies, which led him to have that thought; otherwise, he might have cooked it without a second thought.
So, Parker brought the clam to the Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory. There, it was discovered that the clam is very old, 214 years, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
This means that the clam could have been born in 1809.
The clam is 214 years old. (Photo: Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory).
The clam measures 15.24 cm across, while most ordinary clams are only about 7 to 8 cm.
Due to its uniqueness, the clam has also attracted a lot of attention. While it was kept in the laboratory’s aquarium, more than 100 visitors came to see it each day. This clam is believed to be the fourth oldest clam in the world, while the oldest clam, named Ming, was found at the bottom of the sea in Iceland and is 507 years old.
The clam has been released. (Photo: Tallahassee Democrat).
However, Parker’s clam could not live forever in the aquarium. In the end, he decided to release it back into the Gulf of Mexico because “it wouldn’t thrive if kept in a tank like that.”
