Geoduck
 Gooey
Duck
What is
geoduck? The geoduck clam (pronounced
"gooeduck") is the prime bivalve along Puget
Sound and the biggest burrowing clam in the world. Also
one of the oldest animals on the planet, geoducks can
live as long as 146 years.
The name
(geoduck) is derived from a Nisqually Indian word
("gwe-duk"), meaning "dig deep", and its phonemically
counterintuitive spelling is
probable
the
outcome of
poor transcription.
Different spellings include
gweduc, gweduck and
goiduck.
Native to the Pacific Coast
of the United States and Canada (primarily Washington, British
Columbia, and Southeast Alaska), it is the
biggest burrowing clam in the
world, weighing in at an
average
of
one to three pounds (0.5 - 1.5 kg) at
adulthood, but specimens weighing over 15 pounds (7.5
kg) and as greatly as 2 meters (6 ft) in
span are not unheard
of.
Today, the Chinese
and Hong Kong markets account for almost 8 million pounds
of geoduck each year at a wholesale price of about $10
per pound live in the shell. They are not as
palatable to the North American market, but are
considered a delicacy in Asian markets.
goeduck
 Panopea
abrupta or Panope generosa, is a species of large saltwater clam,
also known as the king clam or elephant trunk
clam. clam
geoduck northwest pacific
There are stories of
geoducks weighing up to 20 pounds. In truth,
most geoducks weigh between one and three lbs.
goeduck
"Whenever
I visit the seacoast, I derive pleasure just knowing that
several feet beneath my waterproof boots lies an animal
quite possibly 90 years my senior, silently finishing a
supper of diatoms and algae inhaled through its meter long
neck."
David George Gordon,
"Field Guide to the Geoduck"
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