Stressed clams turn ghostly white in warming waters
In response to stress, giant clams can lose the symbiotic zooxanthellae that live in their fleshy mantles. Photo by Rasmus Loeth Petersen/Alamy Stock Photo This article was originally featured on Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Read more stories like this at hakaimagazine.com. Bleaching occurs when a stressed marine creature, most commonly a coral, expels its symbiotic algae and turns a ghostly white, often in response to a warming sea. But bleaching affects more than just corals. Giant clams—massive mollusks that can grow more than 1.2 meters in diameter and weigh as much as 225 kilograms—can bleach, too. And in recent research, scientists have learned more about how bleaching disrupts these sessile giants, affecting everything from their nutrition to their reproduction. Giant clams live on coral reefs and are the largest...