TO ALL AND TO KEV...by all means, so glad to hear Kev that you might provide a
photo of Tridacna gigas to those that want to collect them....so rare why
would anyone collect them today?  In 10 years of research on the relatively
pristine Astrolabe reefs of Fiji I MAY have seen ONE.  Camera was out of film
at the time so I couldn't even record it although I think that it at least
still exists there.
I recall a visit to Carp Island in Palau in '86 - Johnnie Kishegawa came
ashore with the meat of one T. gigas which then fed us (3 persons) and his
Japanese dive guests numbering 20 or so.  It was cooked in a number of
different ways and every enjoyable.  I'll never forget the image of Johnnie
with the flesh draped over his shoulder.  He had shown us a small field of T.
gigas and this probably came from there.  No one would have dreamt of taking
one of them as a specimen.
I would really like to have a T.gigas specimen to contribute to the University
of the South Pacific Marine Studies collections from the Astrolabe
reefs....but unless I find a field of them, it won't happen.
I do have other friends who were in the S. Pacific 30/40 years ago and who
collected T.gigas simply for the shells.....on military assignment they had
the shipment back to the US paid for and these shells now serve as bird baths
in their gardens.  Such a loss.
Joan