Tridacna

[trih-dak-nuh]

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).

Word History and Origins

Origin of Tridacna¹

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; tri-

Example Sentences

Tridacna gigas contain marine algae which are a food source for many of the fish species eaten by humans.

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

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So, they returned to Palau to take detailed measurements of light inside the clams — Tridacna derasa, T. maxima and T. crocea — with the help of a fiber-optic probe.

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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.

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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.

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