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; 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

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

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

The large shells of some species of Tridacna would be found vertically imbedded in the solid rock, in the position in which they lived.

From Coral Reefs by Darwin, Charles

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