A Boring Clam (Not in That Way)

This piece of Monterey Shale reveals the work of our local boring clams, so called because they bore into the rock to create a secure home. Curators at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History who study bivalves (clams, oysters, scallops, and mussels) don’t find these animals boring at all. The mollusks have a rough surface on the front of their shells that acts like a drill bit when they rock minutely back and forth.

They also secrete a substance that softens the surrounding rock without degrading their shell. The Central Coast region has a great diversity of boring clams because of how warm currents and cool currents meet at Point Conception, and because of the abundance of Monterey Shale. Shale is a favorite rock for these clams because it is relatively soft. This rock and clam specimen is among the millions of marine invertebrate specimens preserved in the Museum’s collections.