Disco Clam (species: Ctenoides ales) in Lizard Island area: all known taxa (Lizard Island Field Guide)
Ctenoides ales
Disco Clam


©Anne Hoggett: Ctenoides ales caught mid-"flash" (thin blue line on edge of mantle intermittently visible) in a crevice on the reef slope between Bird and South Islands, Lizard Island Group.

©Lindsey Dougherty: Disco Clam (Ctenoides ales), Lizard Island

©Lindsey Dougherty: Valve of Disco Clam found near living specimens at Lizard Island
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Bivalvia
Order Limida
Family Limidae
Genus Ctenoides
Species Ctenoides ales

Colours

              

Distinguishing features

Long orange/red tentacles and mantle; a flashing blue "light" runs along the lip of the mantle caused by the clam revealing then hiding extremely reflective tissue. Always found in crevices, from which the tentacles can protrude.

Size

  • Size data has not been obtained.

Synonyms

Interesting facts

  • These bivalves create a flashing light show by revealing then hiding extremely reflective tissue along the lip of the mantle.

Distribution


©Atlas of Living Australia: Australian distribution

Web resources

References

  • Dougherty, L. (2014). Mechanisms, ultrastructure and behavioral flashing in Ctenoides ales: ‘disco clams’, Malacological Society of Australasia Newsletter, 152: 1-4. LIRS catalog number 1818.
  • Dougherty, L. (2016). Flashing in the 'Disco' Clam Ctenoides ales (Finlay, 1927): Mechanisms and Behavioral Function, PhD thesis, University of California Berkeley. LIRS catalog number 2046.
  • Dougherty, L. F., S. Johnsen, R.L. Caldwell and N.J. Marshall (2014). A dynamic broadband reflector built from microscopic silica spheres in the 'disco' clam Ctenoides ales, Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 11: 20140407. LIRS catalog number 1803.