Hitchhiker Bivalve on my clam?

[cnseekatz]

I've got a bunch of maxima clams, and there is something growing on one of them. I noticed it a few weeks back, and it just looked like a hard white growth, but has been growing very quickly. It's doubled in size in those few weeks to what you see now (sorry for the cell phone quality shot). Here's the crazy part... the clinger is bi-valve. It has a two part shell that opens and closes, with a little tissue in between. It is light and pressure sensitive, and will close up if you mess with it. It's all white at this point, with no color that I can see. I've read about random hitchhiker bivalves that are pretty innocuous, but this is growing really fast, and is attached to a beloved baby maxima, and it's causing some of it's mantle to be restricted.

Any thoughts?

[pagojoe]

Well, it would be easy enough to kill it...but it looks pretty cool. My guess is that the Tridacna will just grow around it.


Don