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Tridacna maxima is the most common giant clam species propagated for aquarium husbandry. It has the largest range of all Tridacnas and is widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific. Their maximum size of about 20 cm - although specimens up to 35 cm have been documented in some cases - makes them very attractive for aquarium culture. The vast majority of animals nowadays come from breeding farms, as the natural populations - mainly for human consumption, but also for souvenirs or jewelry - are heavily overfished. In some South Sea islands, the animals are also propagated in a process similar to oyster farming, where wild larvae are offered attractive artificial substrates to settle on. The animals that settle on them are then raised in mariculture - this is where the rumors of "wild" mussels that keep popping up come from, as the CITES regulations do not provide for any other classification for this method of rearing - so no adults are collected from reefs. Tridacna maxima is mostly bright blue or "golden" (brown), sometimes patterned beige. The color is produced by refraction of light, like butterfly wings, and is highly dependent on the viewing angle. There is also occasionally talk of "pink" or "green" animals, but these are usually not colorful, but rather euphemistic names for gray to greenish-brown color forms. The so called teardrop maxima is characterized by many teardrop-like spots - under this name frequently the related species Tridacna noae is traded, which is not yet included in the CITES regulations and therefore mostly traded as T. maxima.
Tridacna maxima
