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Updated: May 19, 2025
It is destructive not only to oysters but to clams, mussels, barnacles, snails, worms, and small crustacea as well. The variety of sea life about the great reef is legion. Among the bivalves the most remarkable for the size and weight of the shells are the tridachna and hippopus. In some localities they are so numerous that their shells have been burned to make lime.
On our holding up various articles they cautiously approached, and presented us with some curious fish-hooks, matting, adzes made from the shell of the Tridachna and ground very sharp, as also with numerous pearl shells. We came to the conclusion that they had some good reason to mistrust white men; indeed, we afterwards discovered that such was the case.
The Hippopus found here differs from the maculatus already known by the much greater elevation of its shell. The large Tridachna is the Tr. squamosa Lam.
A pair of tridachna valves often weighs several hundred pounds. To the naturalist the Great Barrier Reef is an object of special attraction. The name Australia, like that of California, conjures up in the mind visions of gold; and the story of the gold excitement in both is very similar.
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