Discover

Today
Animals
Explore
Archive
Search

Use it

Classroom
Resources
Field lab
Quiz
Saved

Trust

Methodology
Sources
Corrections
Accessibility
Contributors

Details

About
Contact
Privacy
Terms
Newsletter

Ocean Quahog | Daily Animal Facts

Animal profile

Ocean Quahog

Arctica islandica

BivalviaCold, soft-bottom continental shelf sediments, usually burrowed just below the surface

Field profile

The ocean quahog is a thick-shelled marine clam that lives buried in shelf sediments and grows very slowly in cold water. It is commercially fished in the north-west Atlantic. Its shell records annual growth increments that can be counted like tree rings.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2023-12-21

Ocean Quahog

The longest-lived known animal is a clam

An ocean quahog collected off Iceland in 2006 was aged at 507 years by counting annual shell increments, making it the oldest individual non-colonial animal ever documented. It was named Ming, for the dynasty ruling when it settled.

Read with evidence →