It is not clear from the description if the person actually saw the shells
of a clam or just a siphon-like organ. The animal could also be a polychaete
worm, many species of which also bury in mud.

Aydin

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Avril Bourquin [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Monday, March 19, 2001 5:11 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Mystery mollusc
>
>
>Can someone help this person?
>
>< We live on the water in Ocean Pines, Maryland and are on a
>canal connected
>to the bay and Atlantic ocean.
>We have a large animal of some type that lives in our canal
>and I cannot
>either dig it out or identify it.
>This thing resembles a long neck clam but the neck is about one and a
>quarter inch in diameter and about six or eight inches in
>length.  If you
>try and find it with a clam rake, it will retract and I have
>tried in vain
>to dig it out but with no avail.   It must be better than 18
>inches down.
>The neck is a  whitish material and looks like a piece of
>plastic pipe which
>it retracts into the
>hole.  It is about one and half inches in diameter and when you try and
>locate it it disappears for a couple of weeks before you can
>see it again
>help
>I'm Galloway   [log in to unmask] and I'm curious. >
>
>
>Thanks for any help for this curious person.
>
>All the best,
>Avril Bourquin
>P.O.Box 366
>Invermere, British Columbia
>Canada
>V0A 1K0
>
>Phone: (250) 342-7224
>EMail:  [log in to unmask]
>URL:  www.manandmollusc.net
>