CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Why do clams come out when you sprinkle salt on them?

Why do clams come out when you sprinkle salt on them?

Razor clams are a kind of marine creatures and are relatively expensive. They are caught with salt because when salt is sprinkled on them, the clams think it is high tide and the sea water is coming, so they come out.

[Razor clam] Invertebrate, Mollusca, Bivalvia, Bambuseidae. The shell is rectangular with rounded ends, about 4 to 8.5 cm long, with the top close to the front. The growth line is obvious, and the two shells are equal; the shell surface is yellow-green, often worn and broken and white.

[Morphological characteristics] The front and back ends are open, with the front end being the foot hole and the back end having a water pipe extending out. The top of the shell is not protruding, and its position varies with different species, some are at the very front of the shell, and some are slightly forward of the center of the shell. The foot is extremely developed, long columnar, and has no foot thread.

[Distribution and Habitat] Razor clams are all marine products, and there are more than 20 common species. Most of them are temperate and tropical species, living in shallow sea beaches or muddy beaches in the middle and lower areas of the intertidal zone or subtidal zone; a few species live in the deep seabed, and some species live in estuaries or inner bays, where there is a little fresh water injection and the seawater has a low salinity of soft muddy bottom.

[Reproduction habits] Dioecious, sexual maturity at 1 year old, gonads are distributed in the visceral sac. Male gonads are milky white, while female gonads are light yellow. The breeding season varies from place to place. It is earlier in the north than in the south.

Why do snails' foot glands secrete mucus?

Snails are molluscs with soft ventral feet. When crawling, snails secrete mucus on their ventral feet to prevent the muscles of the ventral feet from directly rubbing against the ground and getting injured. The mucus acts as a cushion to protect the ventral feet; at the same time, the slipperiness of the mucus helps the snail crawl. For example, snails can crawl on knife edges and secrete more mucus when crawling on rough surfaces, which shows that mucus protects the ventral feet and helps crawling.