Advertisement

Watching This Clam Dig Through Sand Is Quite Disturbing

I had no idea that clams could move like that until I saw this video.

The Weather Channel uploaded a video to Facebook that shows a bizarre scene where a single clam burrowing itself into the wet sand of a beach on the north coast of Oregon. I mean, we've seen clams come up out of the sand before, but not going deep underground the way this one did.

It turns out that certain types of burrowing clams are able to generate quicksand-like conditions beneath them to pull themselves underground at a speedy rate, able to travel two and a half feet deep in just a couple of minutes. That's quite impressive for an animal that you would typically think to be for the most part immobile.

Advertisement

What's weird about this particular burrowing bivalve video though is just all the sounds and actions that this clam has going on. I mean, it looks like this mollusk is breathing harder than me after running a quarter mile, and it's attacking the ground with a pulsating motion that's kinda weird, to be honest.

That's not even factoring in the tremendous spout of wet sand that jettisons violently from it.

I'm questioning my choice of clam chowder for lunch now after seeing this, that's for sure.