Geoduck

The Pacific geoduck, Panopea generosa, is a species of very large saltwater clam in the family Hiatellidae, whose common name comes from the Lushootseed word gwidaq. Its shell reaches fifteen to twenty or more centimetres in length, but its siphons can extend up to one metre, making it the largest burrowing clam in the world; the largest verified specimen weighed three and seven tenths kilograms. It is native to the eastern North Pacific Ocean from Alaska to Baja California, with the largest populations in Washington state and British Columbia. Geoducks are among the longest lived animals known, typically reaching about one hundred forty years of age, with the oldest recorded specimen aged one hundred seventy nine years, and annual growth rings in their shells preserve a record of both their age and past marine conditions. A single female can produce roughly five billion eggs over her lifetime as a broadcast spawner, though recruitment is slow, taking about thirty nine years for a harvested Puget Sound population to recover, and adult geoducks have few natural predators, which contributes to their long lifespans.