CATDOLL : CATDOLL: The life habits of clams

Life habits of clams

1. Habitat

Clams mostly live in inner bays with less wind and waves, and in mid- and low-tide areas with moderate freshwater inflow. However, they are occasionally found in coastal islands with higher salinity and in subtidal zones several meters deep. The largest number of clams live in mudflats with a sand content of 70% to 80%. Although they are also found in mudflats with little sand content and sandy or gravel areas with very little mud content, their numbers are very small.

2. Lifestyle

Clams use their well-developed axe feet to dig sand and mud to live in burrows. When the tide is high, they rise to the beach and stretch out their water tubes to breathe, eat, and excrete. When the tide is low or when they encounter external stimuli, they close their shells tightly or rely on the extension and contraction of their feet to retreat to the bottom of the burrow, leaving two holes formed by the inlet and outlet tubes close together on the beach.

The depth of clams' burrows varies with their size, bottom composition, and seasons. Small clams burrow shallower in areas with softer bottoms or higher water temperatures, while large clams burrow deeper in areas with harder bottoms or in cold winters. But in general, the depth of burrows is generally around 3 to 15 centimeters.

(III) Requirements for water quality

1. Water temperature: Clams are euthermic shellfish. In natural sea areas, they can adapt to water temperatures ranging from 0 to 36°C. They grow normally when the water temperature is 5 to 35°C, and grow fastest at 18 to 30°C. The upper limit of the suitable temperature for clams is 43°C. When the water temperature rises to 44°C, the mortality rate reaches 50%; when the water temperature rises to 45°C, all of them die; and when the water temperature drops to 0°C, the gill cilia stop moving and feeding stops; when the water temperature drops to -2 to -3°C, after 3 weeks, the mortality rate reaches 10%.

2. Salinity: Clams have a strong ability to adapt to changes in the specific gravity of seawater. They live normally when the specific gravity is 1.004-1.027, and grow best when the specific gravity is 1.015-1.020. In the inner bay aquaculture area near the estuary without flood control dikes, a large number of clams often die in conjunction with flash floods. This is not only because the specific gravity of seawater drops sharply, but more importantly, the flood brings a lot of mud and sand, making the seawater turbid for a long time, affecting the breathing and feeding of clams.

3. Dissolved oxygen: Clams can live normally in seawater with a dissolved oxygen content of 1 mg/L. Therefore, the dissolved oxygen content of normal seawater can meet the living needs of clams. However, if the seawater is seriously polluted and the dissolved oxygen content is below ** mg/L for about 10 days, it will cause the death of clams.

4. Drought resistance: Clams living in the intertidal zone have strong drought resistance. The drought resistance time is related to the size of the clam, the temperature, and ventilation (see table below).

Drying-out time of clams (hours) Body length\Drying-out time\Temperature 20℃ 27.0～31.5℃ 25.8～28.5℃ 0.5cm 35h 24h -- 1.0cm 48h 24h -- 2.0cm 72h -- 36h

How to quickly remove the sand from clams

Soak the clams in water for 15 minutes, then put them in a basin and shake them several times with your hands, then rinse them with clean water to remove the mud and sand inside the clams. The method is as follows:

Prepare ingredients: 500 grams of clams, a little oil, a little dried chili, a little salt, a little oyster sauce, a little coriander, and a little soy sauce.

1. Soak the clams in water for 15 minutes.

2. Then put the clams into a basin, shake them back and forth, and rinse them clean.

3. Heat oil in a pan.

4. Add dried chili peppers and stir-fry evenly.

5. Add clams and stir-fry.

6. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt and coriander and stir well.

7. Serve on a plate and it’s done.

Note:

Clams themselves contain salt, so only a small amount of salt is needed when frying clams. Adding too much salt will affect the taste.

Clams are a very delicious seafood food. As our living conditions continue to improve, we can often eat clams in our lives. Of course, clams are very delicious, and the nutritional value of clams is also very high. However, many people still don’t know how to clean the mud and sand from clams. Let’s take a look at some good ways to wash away the mud and sand.

1. Boil and rinse

If you think the first method is too time-consuming, then let's learn a quick way to remove the sand. First, fill the pot with water and put the clams in to boil. When the water in the pot boils, the shells of the clams are basically all opened. At this time, pour out the water and rinse the clams with water to clean the sand.

However, this method can easily affect the freshness of the clams. We can let the water used to boil the clams cool down, filter out the mud and sand deposited at the bottom, and use the clarified water to wash the clams, so as to retain some of the freshness.

2. Soak in warm salt water

First, put the clams in a basin of warm water and add salt and oil to the warm water. The amount depends on the water in the basin. This can imitate the growth environment of the clams, so that they can open their shells to spit out sand. The role of adding oil is to form an oil film on the water surface, which can separate the water from the air, so that the clams lack oxygen in the water and breathe faster, thereby speeding up the process of spitting out sand.

Then, we need to let the clams sit for two to three hours. Next, we will see that most of the clams have opened their shells and the water will become turbid. At this time, the clams' sand-spitting process is completed. Of course, if we want to shorten the clams' sand-spitting time, we can stir the water in the basin back and forth with our hands, and change it with clean water in time, so that we can quickly clean the mud and sand from the clams.

3. Heating and rinsing

First, rinse the mud and sand off the shells of the clams you bought with clean water. Then heat the clams in a waterless wok for 3 minutes. When the clams open one after another, immediately pick out the opened clams and rinse them under the faucet to clean the mud and sand inside.

This method is very simple, the clam meat is tender, and the nutrients and moisture are not easily lost. The freshly bought clams can be cooked and served immediately, which is really convenient.

Above we have made a detailed introduction on how to clean the mud and sand of clams. We can learn many good ways to wash away the mud and sand of clams. In fact, whether it is boiling water, soaking in warm salt water, or heating rinsing, it can help us quickly remove the mud and sand of clams, and the effect is very good, so we can use these methods when cleaning clams.

1. Rinse the live clams you bought with tap water first, find a small iron basin or plastic basin, grab a handful of clams each time and put them in the basin, the number should be enough to cover the bottom of the basin, then shake the small basin up and down to shake the clams in the basin. The purpose of shaking is to shake the dead clams open, and you can find them after the dead clams are shaken open. The sand in the shell of the dead clam is black and plentiful, and a dead clam with sand in it will affect the deliciousness of a pot of clams. The live clams you bought home will not open naturally if they are not cooked. Only the dead clams can open by shaking them up and down, so it is easier to find the dead clams.

Put the shaken clams into a basin of clean water, use tap water, and make sure the water covers the clams. Then add a small amount of salt, twice the amount you usually put in cooking, and then drip four or five drops of sesame oil into the basin.

Leave the clams treated as above for three to four hours, and the sand in the clams will be basically removed.

Of course, some clams are cleaner and have less sand in their bodies. You just need to go home and shake them in a basin a few times to find out the dead clams. For example, Manila clams, also known as oil clams, have very little or even no sand in their bodies. If you find the dead clams among them, you can eat them boldly.

2. Some clams have a lot of sand in their bodies, which makes them difficult to handle. For example, if the person selling the clams does not handle them properly for you when you buy them, you basically have no good way to remove the sand from their bodies after you get home.

After buying such clams, the best way to deal with them is to ask the seller for a small basin of sea water. Soaking them in sea water for 12 hours at home may remove the sand in the sand clams. However, there is a problem. If the seller gives everyone some sea water, I am afraid there is not enough.

In fact, all clams can be soaked in sea water to remove sand. This method is relatively simple and practical. It’s just that the people selling clams won’t give you a lot of sea water. If you can get it, soaking them in sea water is the best.

3. Another method is to soak the purchased clams in clean water and put some iron objects in it, such as iron knives, iron nails, etc. Of course, these iron objects must be rusted, because iron oxide has a strange smell and will stimulate the clams to spit out sand.

4. Rice washing water removal method: Soaking clams in rice washing water for one to two hours can also have a certain effect, but it is only effective for removing sand from clams with less sand.

5. Soaking method with edible alkali. This method is the same as the soaking method with edible salt. The amount of edible alkali used is basically the same as the amount of edible salt used, and the soaking time is also the same.

Precautions

You can just choose one of the above methods. Now most people who sell sea clams will soak the clams in sea water. If the soaking time is longer, there will be less sand in the clams. If you are still worried after returning home, you can choose one of the most convenient methods for you to clean it again.

Soak in salt water for half an hour

How to make clams spit out mud and sand quickly