The largest clam species in the world has hatched more than 9 million eggs in Palawan, Philippines and has boosted the species declining population in the Southeast Asian Country.
The MFI (Malampaya Foundation) nearly 9.5 million eggs have been fertilized by giant clams that are native in breeding at the Western Philippines University Hatchery in Puerto Princesa City, Philippines.
The Malmapaya Foundation and the Western Philippines University were in charge of the breeding, while the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute was in charge of supervising the activity.
Dr. Lota Creencia of the Western Philippines University College of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences said, “Tridacna gigas is hard to propagate because the population is few. We need to really go to the broodstock (source) to collect eggs and sperms, compared to other species of clams which numbers can still afford to be brought into laboratories.”
The Tridacna Gigas is listed in the endangered species list of clams and was once declared as extinct in the country during the early 1980s.
But the species were found again in Dos Palmas, Palawan.
The Malampaya Foundation said that they will be deploying the clams in the marine protected areas in Palawan once they have aged properly.