Clam

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/clam

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Class Bivalvia
2. What is the diet?Obligate filter feeders, consuming phytoplankton, zooplankton, bacteria, and organic detritus
3. How do clams eat?Clams filter water through their gills to capture tiny food like phytoplankton, zooplankton, bacteria, and detritus. They keep moving water through their bodies to find food.
4. Why are clams important for the ocean?Clams clean the water by filtering out excess algae, which helps keep the water clear and prevents harmful algal blooms. Their waste also adds nutrients that other sea creatures need.

Bivalve: A class of marine and freshwater mollusks characterized by a shell composed of two hinged valves, such as clams, oysters, and mussels.
Siphon: A tubular organ in bivalves used for respiration, feeding, and locomotion, often extending from the shell to the external environment.
Eutrophication: The excessive richness of nutrients in a body of water, frequently due to runoff from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life and death of animal life from lack of oxygen.
Bioindicator: An organism that provides information about the quality of the environment in which it lives, often used to detect pollution or other environmental changes.