A new species of Tridacna clam has been discovered in the Info-pacific region. The clam has yet to be scientifically described and does not yet have a valid name.

The new clam was discovered when Jude Keyse, a postgraduate student at the University of Queensland, Australia and the other co-authors of ”A Novel Widespread Cryptic Species and Phylogeographic Patterns within Several Giant Clam Species (Cardiidae: Tridacna) from the Indo-Pacific Ocean” started to DNA test clams near the Solomon Islands and at Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. The results shows evidence of a new clam that has been hiding in plain sight. The new species is believed to be very closely related to Tridacna maxima.

Another co-author, Shane Penny, a postgraduate student at Charles Darwin University., had the following to say about the discovery “To correctly describe the new species now becomes critical as the effects of getting it wrong can be profound for fisheries, ecology and conservation,”

Bibliographic information: Huelsken T et al. 2013. A Novel Widespread Cryptic Species and Phylogeographic Patterns within Several Giant Clam Species (Cardiidae: Tridacna) from the Indo-Pacific Ocean. PLoS ONE 8 (11): e80858; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080858

Image credit: E. A. Treml.