4 days ago
Aussie's daily swim leads to incredibly rare island discovery: 'Amazing'
One sunny morning last year, Lawrence Scheele wandered down to his local beach for a swim — something he does most days. However, just moments after he waded into the bright blue water, the Australian marine biologist realised this dip was not like any other.
'I noticed this clam that I've never seen before, and it had a really intricate and intriguing colouration to it that I thought looked really distinct from any of the other species we have around the island,' Scheele, who has spent the past several years documenting Magnetic Island's marine life for his upcoming scientific field guide, told Yahoo News.
After snapping some photos and jotting down the creature's coordinates in Alma Bay, Scheele went back home and tried to match it to a documented species.
'I looked further into it and thought it was a Noah's giant clam (tridacna noae),' he explained. However, given the species had never been recorded on Australia's east coast or in the Great Barrier Reef, he wasn't quite sure.
'Lucky for me, one of the world leading experts of giant clams lives down the road. I went over to his house, and said 'Hey Rick, I think I found this rare clam'.'
Despite his initial disbelief, after reviewing the photographs, Dr Richard Braley, known affectionately as 'The Giant Clam Man', excitedly confirmed it was indeed a Noah's giant clam. 'He was just so surprised,' Scheele told Yahoo, adding that Dr Braley described the observation as 'amazing'.
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Noah's giant clam recorded on Australia's east coast for first time
The species, which has a broad distribution in the Indo-Pacific, was previously known locally to only live off Western Australia's tropical coast — until now. 'It's presumably the first sighting and definitely the first official recorded sighting [of a Noah's giant clam] on the east coast of Australia,' Scheele said.
Following the surprising revelation in January 2024, the marine biologist and Dr Braley teamed up with Dr Thane Militz, a project scientist with the Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research (ACPIR), to draft a study confirming the species' geographic distribution now includes the Great Barrier Reef. It was published this year.
The discovery off Queensland's Magnetic Island 'affirms that a review of past population assessments and demographic parameters for giant clams within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) is now required', the study states.
It's believed previous surveys 'might have been compromised due to inadvertent taxonomic confusion', with the experts believing it's unlikely the species would be restricted to the island.
Sad twist of fate for unique giant clam
Dr Braley told Yahoo he expects sightings of the colourful creatures to now occur both north and south of the tourist hotspot.
'It was an honour to have the first sighting here on our beautiful inshore reef island,' he said. 'We all as citizen scientists need to keep an open eye for the unusual when visiting the reef.'
Unfortunately, the clam spotted by Scheele was later killed by ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily. 'I have not seen another Noah's giant clam, but I do now keep my eye out for them,' the marine biologist said.
'It's just so amazing to be based in such a beautiful part of the world and have access to all these fringing coral reefs that are just teeming with life, and they're also quite poorly studied,' Scheele added.
'There's so much diversity here that people don't know about.'
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