Tridacna

American  

[trih-dak-nuh] / trɪˈdæk nə /

noun

1. a genus of giant clams inhabiting reefs in the South Pacific, attaining a diameter of 4 feet (1.2 meters) or more, and weighing over 500 pounds (227 kilograms).

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Etymology

Origin of Tridacna

First recorded in 1770–80; from New Latin, noun use of feminine of Latin tridacnus “requiring three bites,” from Greek trídaknos , equivalent to tri- “three” + dákn(ein) “to bite” + -os adjective suffix; see tri-

Example Sentences

The lab would switch from raising the colorful species to growing the biggest of the 12 species of giant clams, Tridacna gigas.

From National Geographic • Aug. 30, 2016

Some forms attain their fullest development in warm latitudes; and are often exclusively confined to the torrid zone, as Nautilus, Harpa, Terebellum, Pyramidella, Delphinula, Aspergillum, Tridacna, Cucullæa, Crassatella, Corbis, Perna, and Plicatula.

From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir

It made a magnificent bath for the little black fellow, and it was larger even than the shells we had found on our island, a magnificent, specimen of the Tridacna gigas.

From In the Eastern Seas by Kingston, William Henry Giles

Tridacna, trī-dak′na, n. a genus of bivalves, the giant clam, without the shell weighing 20 lb., with the shell so much even as 500 lb.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

The Tridacnidæ, whose sole genus Tridacna contains the largest specimen of the whole class of bivalves, the shells sometimes measuring two feet and more across.

From Sea-Weeds, Shells and Fossils by Gray, Peter