Disco clam
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Disco clams open their shells wide when they sense danger.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Disco clam
- Scientific name
- Ctenoides ales
- Japanese name
- ウコンハネガイ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Bivalvia
- Order
- Limida
- Family
- Limidae
- Genus
- Ctenoides
Where the name “Disco clam” comes from
The name disco clam comes from its disco-ball-like defensive display.
Natural History MuseumA clam that lives in the tropical western Pacific, from the Amami Islands southward.
Light-reflecting cells along the edge of its mantle make it look as if it is glowing brightly.
How the Disco clam lives
They live hidden in crevices. Their main food is plankton. During reproduction, males and females release sperm and eggs into the water for fertilization.
Natural History MuseumUniversity of Colorado Museum of Natural HistoryBasic data
- Range
- The tropical western Pacific south of the Amami Islands
Where the Disco clam has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ウコンハネガイ
- 简体中文
- 圆栉锉蛤
- 繁體中文
- 圓櫛銼蛤
- Français
- Lime électrique
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — ウコンハネガイChecked: 2026-11-04
- University of Colorado Museum of Natural History — Disco ClamsChecked: 2026-11-07
- Natural History Museum — Disco clam: A poster child for weird bivalvesChecked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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