The Clamor Over Clams!
As an special service to our avid readers, we are
reprinting this interesting article from 1992 by Randy Kreil:
Originally published in: North Dakota Outdoors (June, 1992)
Official Publication of the State Game and Fish Department
A clamor rang throughout the state during late summer of 1990.
From the halls of the state capitol to the Bronco Cafe in Lisbon,
"clams" emerged as the new topic of conversation. Are North
Dakota clams edible? The answer is a qualified yes.
However, eating them may not be without some health risk!
Freshwater mussels have no head, eyes, or appendages.
The insides consist of a mass of muscle, soft tissue, intestinal
tract, and reproductive organs. A clam feeds by siphoning water
through its internal digestive tract, where food is filtered out and
digested.
Clams don't get around much and are usually found in colonies
called beds. They often bury themselves in the mud or sand
bottoms of streams, with only their back ends exposed. This
provides protection while allowing the siphons to bring in food,
water, and oxygen. The fact that clams occur in beds is also
helpful to their reproductive efforts (!)
The sex life of a freshwater clam is less than romantic and can
best be described as a hit-or-miss proposition. The male simply
flushes out sperm through its out-going siphon and the female
must draw it in through an intake siphon. The odds for successful
fertilization are naturally increased if the male and female are,
pardon the pun, in the same bed. The clams' low position on the
food chain and manner of feeding allow for ingestion of unhealthy
by-products of human activities. When a clam filters out the
micro-organisms from sediments, it may also be absorbing toxics
such as heavy metals, pesticides, and industrial pollutants.
If North Dakota clams aren't in demand for their edible qualities,
why were they such an interesting subject at coffee shops and in
government offices around the state? Are there other uses for
clams we may not realize?
We leave this up to the individual reader to decide!
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