I have found S. solidissima in good numbers in hypoxic mud (little or no sand) in the Shark River, Monmouth County, NJ, about 0.25 mile inland from the mouth into the Atlantic ocean. Two sets of tides a day, so there's noticeable, regular salinity change. The clams consistently run in the 100mm range.
I have also found the clams in the 150-170mm range in sandy mud on the flats of Hull's Cove (Frenchman's Bay), Mt. Desert Island, ME. The posterior ends are literally exposed at low tide.
Looks like the species is capable of enduring a lot of stress.
-----Original Message-----
From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of steve rosenthal
Sent: Friday, July 19, 2019 10:01 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] surf clams adapt to climate change
I didn't follow the links to the articles yet, but I can mention one
anecdotal observation about surf clam habitats. For years the
'normal' domain of surf clams here in New York was in shallow water
from just off the south shore barrier beaches (as a child i remember
feeling them with my toes and digging them up) to vast beds slightly
further offshore in a few feet of water to about 100-200 feet. Over
the years i have also seen them steadily and stably 'encroaching' into
the shallow sand/mud flats on the barrier side of the local beaches,
where their numbers have remained relatively low but stable. LIve and
dead shells of all sizes (adult and juvenile) were present. These
waters are subject to much greater temperature and salinity changes
than those on the other side. Curious to see what the articles
say......but anecdotally it seems this species was already well
adapted to expand into other habitat types than the offshore clam
beds it reaches peak abundance in.
On 7/19/19, John Varner <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> hot weather has everyone a bit cranky?
>
> The article was not intended as a definitive piece on surf clams. It
> references two articles (see links to originals, in the article) that deal
> with adaptations (or inability of species to adapt to ) climate change, one
> of which is a detailed study of surf clams. The stand out info is that
> ocean biomass will decrease by nearly 20% by 2100 due to climate change.
>
> Sorry the article did not reference Susan Hewitt as the original
> photographer, but the responsibility is with Wiki, not the article's author
> or Mongabay. If you follow the link to the image, Wiki does not credit the
> original photographer either, and grants license to use to the photo, so
> long as it is attributed to Wiki.
> ________________________________
> From: Conchologists List <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Frederick
> W. Schueler <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, July 19, 2019 8:12 AM
> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] surf clams adapt to climate change
>
> On 19-Jul.-19 8:00 a.m., Susan Hewitt or Ed Subitzky wrote:
>> The surf clam shell photo is an image that I made in January 2009 using
>> my flat-bed scanner and then donated to Wikimedia:
>>
>> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spisula_solidissima_shell.jpg
>>
>> Although the MongoBay piece credits Wikimedia, they should also have
>> credited me as the photographer
>
>> https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/study-examines-how-the-atlantic-surfclam-is-successfully-adapting-to-climate-change/
>
> * maybe it's just as well not to be credited in association with such a
> poorly written article - just what new habitat are the Surf Clams moving
> into, please? Are they going north, or into deeper water, or what?
>
> fred.
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
> Fragile Inheritance Natural History
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