Jul 6
Quick facts about this bivalve that can put on a light show! The electric disco clam (electric fileclam, fire clam, flame scallop, Ctenoides scaber). Electric disco clam facts!
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Tunisia
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Syria
seen from Chile
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Chile
seen from China
seen from Thailand
seen from Azerbaijan
seen from Malaysia
Quick facts about this bivalve that can put on a light show! The electric disco clam (electric fileclam, fire clam, flame scallop, Ctenoides scaber). Electric disco clam facts!
The swimming File Clam is a bioluminescent marine bivalve known for its vibrant, tentacle-fringed mantle, unique swimming ability, sensitivi
412 likes, 5 comments - nickdavis.00 on March 8, 2026: "This little bivalve has a little trick, it can swim!!… Kind of. This tiny file clam
The story of a deep-sea giant file clam found in Canadian waters! Thanks to scientific collaboration along with technology (remote operated ocean vehicles) an entirely new species has been revealed. There’s so much awaiting discovery in our oceans! Canadian Museum of Nature— http://nature.ca/NatureScoop
#3816 - Lima colorata
Labelled here as colorata, at least, although it's likely that they and the living Lima zealandica are an evolutionary continuum. colorata was quite large compared to living Lima species, though, sometimes exceeding 10cm.
Living File Clams have bright red flesh and tentacles, and some like the one below from the Lembeh Strait have electric blue flashes.
Museum of the Vanished World, Duntroon, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Portrait of a File Clam, Lima sp. Photography by Eric Röttinger EMBO Journal Cover Contest 2012, “Best Non-Scientific Image 2012”.
The file clam is a bivalve mollusc that is able to swim by clapping its shells together, and using its tentacles to change directions.
Eric Röttinger is a developmental biologist and Group-leader at the Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging in Nice (France) and co-founder of thenon-profit organization Kahi Kai (‘one ocean’ in native Hawaiian).
Fragile File Clam (Limaria fragilis)
..a species of bivalve mollusc that is distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Fragile file clams are often found in shallow waters and are usually tucked away in crevices or under rocks with only their tentacles showing. Like other members of Limidae the fragile file clam can swim by opening and closing its valves and expelling water to propel itself. Its numerous tentacles help as well and are used like oars (however it does not need them to swim).
Fragile file clams are protandrous hermaphrodites, meaning that they start their lives as males and change sex to females later on in life. They also have the ability to emit small flashes of bioluminescence, it is not yet known why they do this.
Phylogeny
Animalia-Mollusca-Bivalvia-Pteriomorphia-Limoida-Limidae-Limaria-L.fragilis
Images: Silke Baron and Starfish.ch