Ctenoides ales
Disco Clam
©Anne Hoggett: Ctenoides ales caught mid-"flash" (thin blue line on edge of mantle intermittently visible) in a crevice on the reef slope between Bird and South Islands, Lizard Island Group.
©Lindsey Dougherty: Valve of Disco Clam found near living specimens at Lizard Island
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Mollusca
Class
Bivalvia
Order
Limida
Family
Limidae
Genus
Ctenoides
Species
Ctenoides ales
Colours
Distinguishing features
Long orange/red tentacles and mantle; a flashing blue "light" runs along the lip of the mantle caused by the clam revealing then hiding extremely reflective tissue. Always found in crevices, from which the tentacles can protrude.
Size
- Size data has not been obtained.
Synonyms
Interesting facts
- These bivalves create a flashing light show by revealing then hiding extremely reflective tissue along the lip of the mantle.
Distribution
©Atlas of Living Australia: Australian distribution
Web resources
References
- Dougherty, L. (2014). Mechanisms, ultrastructure and behavioral flashing in Ctenoides ales: ‘disco clams’, Malacological Society of Australasia Newsletter, 152: 1-4. LIRS catalog number 1818.
- Dougherty, L. (2016). Flashing in the 'Disco' Clam Ctenoides ales (Finlay, 1927): Mechanisms and Behavioral Function, PhD thesis, University of California Berkeley. LIRS catalog number 2046.
- Dougherty, L. F., S. Johnsen, R.L. Caldwell and N.J. Marshall (2014). A dynamic broadband reflector built from microscopic silica spheres in the 'disco' clam Ctenoides ales, Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 11: 20140407. LIRS catalog number 1803.