Giant clam

English Name: Giant Clam

Scientific Name: Tridacna gigas, Tridacna maxima, Tridacna squamosa, Tridacna derasa

Indigenous Name: Pa’ua/pahua (Cook Islands); katavatu, vasua, cega (Fiji); hima (Guam); pahua (Tahiti Nui/ French Polynesia)

General Information: 

Giant clams are used throughout the Pacific for jewellery, adornment and costuming, predominantly in Guam, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea. They are collected for decoration as a total shell.

Appendix 1 – CITES listed, IUCN Red list, globally and regionally endangered. All import and export needs CITES permit. Pacific countries vary in the additional import and export requirements and some countries allow export on specific quotas or for cultured clams only.