Q's and A's

daughterbear@msn.com               ~ e-mail ~

Below are some of the questions i have been asked over the years. If you have any, please leve your questions in my guest book or e-mail me. I will look it up for you and add it to my page.

What do razor clams eat? Razor clams are filter feeders. They rely on plankton for food.                   Where is the best place to dig? They say Clam Gulch is the best place, but I have cleaned many "large healthy" clams from Ninilchik. So if your looking for  "the big ones" thats the best spot.                     How big can a razor clam get? Clams in Ninilchik grow much bigger than the clams in Clam Gulch. This is due to the milder winters and more available plankton.  they can grow up to 6 inches.....but I hear of them growing larger. I have cleaned razor clams from Ninlchik with diggers as large as my hand!! The clams from Clam Gulch  are about 4 or 5 inches. The further south you go, the bigger they get.                     How long does a clam live? Up to 18 years on the Kenai Peninsula. They spawn in late July/early August. The female lays up to 10 million eggs a year. They are born without a shell and swim around. This is called "free swim". It can last 4 to 6 weeks, the shell begans to look like a grown clam. After they grow a shell, they find a nice lil' cubby and stay in one location through out life. The survival rate for a razor clam egg is very, very, low.                  What is that "clear white tube"? From what I hear, its the digestive system. Now the scientific explanation of this is beyond my brain.             What are the razor clams predators? Birds, crabs, fish, otters, and man.  Even bears and coyotes have been seen by fisherman and diggers walking down the flats digging them up, or picking up what the diggers left behind.                   How fast can a razor clam dig? "Fast". A  clam can rebury itself in 7 seconds. Some can dig down 9 inches in one minute. The speed depends on many things: temperature, consistency of the sand, and the size of the clam. Razors are cold blooded. Low temperatures make the clam sluggish and slow; warmer temperatures make them faster.                    How does a razor clam dig? Razor clams move by extending their foot (digger) into the sand below their shell, then flattening out the tip of the foot like a rivet head. The clam then pulls itself down to its anchord foot. They are able to move faster in soft, wet sand near the waters edge than in the dryer, packed sand farther from the water. Razor clams can only move up and down, not side to side. Will the daily bag limit of razors ever go back up o 60? This I dont know. I hope not. Our beaches have been over dug and  misused.  I would like to see them close down digging for about 3 years. I can honestly say I would be willing  to give up my job for that long just to see a increase in the population of  our clams. I have seen people throw clams away. This makes me sick. There is a limited population of clams.

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