Clams From The Inside and Out
- The Quahog Clam or Hard Shell Clam is an edible marine mollusk that is found up and down the estern coast of North America. Quahog Clams may be born male or female just like most other species on the Earth but male born clams have the special ability to change their sex during their life time.
Quahog clams reproduce in an asexual manner and through somewhat of a spawning process. And in this process females release eggs (probably from her excurrent siphon) into the water (females can release 1 million to 24 million eggs at once) while males release sperm ( probably from his excurrent siphon) into the water. Therefore the fertilization takes place in the water without either of the clams coming into physical contact with eachother. But females will usual release their eggs in the mid-summer due to the fact that the water is the warmest and that is when there is the highest content of plankton in the water and this is because that is what the new clams need to eat. After the possible months of fertilizing take place the newly fertilized eggs move into a larval stage where they are carried by waves and currents until they develop their hard shell and are able to sink to the bottom of the ocean and use their muscular foot to move.