Image of Atlantic rangia

Description:

The Atlantic Rangia, Rangia cunaeta, is a large brackish water clam that used to be common in Texas but it has been rarely found alive in recent years. They used to be so abundant that once their shells were used as road material. Although this clam typically lives in brackish water an in rivers, it an be also found in bays and marshes, and shells have been collected far offshore (likely carried by currents). As part of a graduate student's project, a team searched for Rangia clams in rives around Corpus Christi for several days, an eventually found several small populations. As a concern that they might not be in the optimal salinity range an not reproducing, the student dissected a few specimens and found gametes in their gonads (oocytes shown in some photos, but spermatozoans were also found), which is a good sign. The larger clams found were larger than we had seen before, a little more than 80 mm in length. Note that several clams were collected over a few days. I observed the dissection and checking for gametes at the date stated here.