What do you call that?

The geoduck. Large. Long-lived. Tasty. Weird. And native to where I live.

Odds are, unless you live in the Pacific Northwest somewhere, you’ve probably never heard of a geoduck. I’d never heard of them, until I moved to the Puget Sound! Geoducks are native to the Pacific coast of the northern US and Canada, primarily concentrated in Washington State and British Columbia. In fact, there are an estimated 109 million of them in the Puget Sound area! That makes this creature the single most abundant organism in the region. So you’re probably wondering – what on earth is a geoduck?

“Geoduck” is, in my opinion, one of the most confusing words in the English language. It is properly pronounced “gooey-duck.” And these things aren’t ducks at all! They are large saltwater clams, which are also known as king clams or elephant trunk clams. Geoducks are actually the largest saltwater burrowing clam in the world. If you were to go dig a geoduck out of the sand, you would probably find one weighing somewhere between 1 and 3 pounds. However, there are tales of geoducks reaching upwards of 20 pounds. (That’s a lot of clam.)

Geoducks are burrowing clams, and you will find them buried in sandy areas around bodies of salt water. (They are also buried beneath the sediment underneath the surface of the water, too. In fact, they have been observed at depths of 360 feet in the Puget Sound.) About 50 days after they begin their lives, they begin digging down into the sediment at a rate of 1 foot per year. Once they reach about 3 feet below the ground, they generally stop digging, and remain at that level for the rest of their lives. They eat and breathe through their siphons, which protrude up through the sediment to the surface. Through one hole in the siphon, they suck in water (from which they extract plankton and oxygen), then spit the remaining water back out through a different hole in the siphon.

Interestingly enough, the geoduck is one of the longest-living creatures in the region. It has an average life span of 146 years, and the oldest geoduck on record was around 160 years old! In a previous column (“the small animal, short life phenomenon”), I discussed how the average longevity of mammals correlates with body size. For the most part, small mammals live short lives, while large mammals live long ones. For reasons that scientists do not understand, that correlation only holds true for mammals. Reptiles, amphibians, birds and insects all play by their own rules when it comes to average lifespan.

For example, here are the average size and lifespan of a few non-mammals:
Oriental Fire-bellied toad: <0.1 pounds / 11-14 years
American Alligator: 1300 pounds / 50-65 years
African Grey Parrot: 1-1.5 pounds / 50-70 years
Ostrich: 250 pounds / 50-70 years
Alligator Snapping Turtle: 200 pounds / 50 years
Tarantula: 0.1 pounds / 10-30 years

If you notice, there is really no correlation between how big these animals are and how long they live, and that is certainly true for the geoduck. Their lifespan is roughly comparable to that of a blue whale, which is hundreds of times larger. Scientist speculate that the reason for the geoduck’s long lifespan is because they live a very low-stress, easy lifestyle. They have relatively few predators, though sea otters, dogfish, and starfish will sometimes attack them. And, of course, humans love them.

Washington state is home to a large and growing industry of geoduck aquaculture (worth 80 million dollars a year), primarily because the large meaty siphon can be sold for upwards of $30 a pound in Asia. It is extremely popular in Hong Kong and Japan, where it is eaten either raw (sashimi style) or cooked in a fondue-style hot pot.

Of course, given what they look like, I don’t know if I’d ever be brave enough to eat one raw.