| Kuphus polythalamius | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Depiction of Kuphus polythalamius in Gray (1857) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Bivalvia |
| Order: | Myida |
| Family: | Teredinidae |
| Genus: | Kuphus |
| Species: | K. polythalamius |
| Binomial name | |
| Kuphus polythalamius (Linnaeus, 1758) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Kuphus polythalamius is a species of shipworm, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Teredinidae.
The tube of Kuphus polythalamius is known as a crypt and is a calcareous secretion designed to enable the animal to live in its preferred habitat, the mud of mangrove swamps. A typical specimen measures 100 cm (40 in) in length and is shaped like a truncated elephant's tusk. The wider, anterior end is closed, has a rounded tip, and is about 110 mm (4.5 in) in diameter. From there the tube tapers to an open, posterior end about 38 mm (1.5 in) in diameter, with a central septum. Siphons project through this end for feeding and respiration. They can be withdrawn inside the tube and the end can be sealed with a set of specialised plates or "pallets". The two small valves of the mollusc are inside the tube along with the mantle, gut and other soft organs. In the intact but otherwise empty tube found on the strandline, they can be seen by X-ray photography. [1]
The giant clam (Tridacna gigas) is generally considered to be the largest bivalve mollusc. It is indeed the heaviest species, growing to over 200 kg (440 lb) and measuring up to 120 cm (47 in) in length, [2] but Kuphus polythalamius holds the record for the largest bivalve by length. A specimen owned by Victor Dan in the United States has a length of 1,532 mm (60 in), which is considerably longer than the largest giant clam. [2] [3]
Today, Kuphus polythalamius is found in the western Pacific Ocean, the western and eastern Indian Ocean and the Indo-Malaysian area. [4] The range includes the Philippines, Indonesia and Mozambique. [5] However, the only thoroughly studied natural habitat of the species is in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat in the Philippines. [6]
Marine biologist Ruth Turner studied shipworms and considered that their common ancestor would have been very like Kuphus polythalamius, the most primitive of the teredinids. She believed that the anatomy of the tube was such that the animal would not have been able to burrow in wood as other modern teredinids do, but would instead have lived buried in soft sediments. [1]
In April 2017, the species became the focus of international attention when the announcement of a scientific study conducted in the Philippines was misinterpreted by foreign news reporters as the discovery of a rare live specimen. [7] The sample was gunmetal black, and very muscular. While other shipworms feed on submerged wood, K. polythalamius was found to use bacteria in its gills to use hydrogen sulphide in the water as an energy source used to convert carbon dioxide into nutrients. [8] [9] In this respect it resembles the unrelated giant tube worm, which actually is a worm.
Videos uploaded to YouTube, however, already show Philippine scientists dissecting specimens as far back as 2010, after a news feature on a giant tamilok, the local name for the common shipworm, was broadcast on a local TV network. [10] The report by local media celebrity Jessica Soho suggests that local residents in the province of Sultan Kudarat, Mindanao island, were familiar enough with the creature to the point of treating it as a delicacy. After the discovery of the species in Sultan Kudarat, various environmental groups launched a campaign to protect the species and its habitat from further destruction and human consumption. Currently, the municipal waters where the species thrive in is protected by the local government. [6]
Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two shells of equal size connected by two adductor muscles and have a powerful burrowing foot. They live in both freshwater and marine environments; in salt water they prefer to burrow down into the mud and the turbidity of the water required varies with species and location; the greatest diversity of these is in North America.
The shipworms are marine bivalve molluscs in the family Teredinidae: a group of saltwater clams with long, soft, naked bodies. They are notorious for boring into wood that is immersed in sea water, including such structures as wooden piers, docks and ships; they drill passages by means of a pair of very small shells (“valves”) borne at one end, with which they rasp their way through. Sometimes called "termites of the sea", they also are known as "Teredo worms" or simply Teredo. Carl Linnaeus assigned the common name Teredo to the best-known genus of shipworms in the 10th edition of his taxonomic magnum opus, Systema Naturæ (1758).
Bivalvia, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bivalves have no head and they lack some usual molluscan organs, like the radula and the odontophore. The class includes the clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, scallops, and numerous other families that live in saltwater, as well as a number of families that live in freshwater. The majority are filter feeders. The gills have evolved into ctenidia, specialised organs for feeding and breathing. Most bivalves bury themselves in sediment, where they are relatively safe from predation. Others lie on the sea floor or attach themselves to rocks or other hard surfaces. Some bivalves, such as the scallops and file shells, can swim. The shipworms bore into wood, clay, or stone and live inside these substances.
The giant clams are the members of the clam genus Tridacna that are the largest living bivalve mollusks. There are actually several species of "giant clams" in the genus Tridacna, which are often misidentified for Tridacna gigas, the most commonly intended species referred to as "the giant clam".
Kalamansig, officially the Municipality of Kalamansig, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Sultan Kudarat, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 50,900 people.
Ruth Dixon Turner was a pioneering U.S. marine biologist and malacologist. She was the world's expert on Teredinidae or shipworms, a taxonomic family of wood-boring bivalve mollusks which severely damage wooden marine installations.
Ensis is a genus of medium-sized edible saltwater clams, littoral bivalve molluscs in the family Pharidae. Ensis, or razor clams, are known in much of Scotland as spoots, for the spouts of water they eject while burrowing into the sand, when visible at low tide. This term may also colloquially include members of the genus Solen. Ensis magnus are known as bendies due to their slightly curved shell.
Teredo navalis, commonly called the naval shipworm or turu, is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Teredinidae. This species is the type species of the genus Teredo. Like other species in this family, this bivalve is called a shipworm because it resembles a worm in general appearance while at the anterior end it has a small shell with two valves, and it is adept at boring through wood.
Myida is an order of saltwater and freshwater clams, marine and freshwater bivalve molluscs in the subclass Heterodonta. The order includes such bivalves as soft-shell clams, geoducks and shipworms.
Hippopus is a genus of large tropical saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the subfamily Tridacninae, the giant clam subfamily, of the family Cardiidae.
Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes.
Tonna canaliculata is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Tonnidae, the tun shells.
Teredo portoricensis, known commonly as the Puerto Rico shipworm, is a species of wood-boring clam or shipworm, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Teredinidae.
Kuphus is a genus of shipworms, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Teredinidae. While there are four extinct species in the genus, the only extant species is Kuphus polythalamius. It is the longest bivalve mollusc in the world, where the only known permanent natural habitat is Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat in the Philippines.
Teredo is a genus of highly modified saltwater clams which bore in wood and live within the tunnels they create. They are commonly known as "shipworms;" however, they are not worms, but marine bivalve molluscs in the taxonomic family Teredinidae. The type species is Teredo navalis.
Teredora princesae is a species of marine bivalve mollusc in the family Teredinidae, the shipworms. This species lives in timber that is floating in the western Pacific Ocean.
Limatula hodgsoni is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Limidae, the file shells or file clams. It is native to the seas around Antarctica.
Psiloteredo megotara is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Teredinidae, the shipworms.
Thiosocius is a genus of bacteria that lives in symbiosis with the giant shipworm Kuphus polythalamius. It contains a single species, Thiosocius teredinicola, which was isolated from the gills of the shipworm. The specific name derives from the Latin terms teredo (shipworm) and incola (dweller).