That's right, clams have a foot.

沒錯，蛤蠣也有腳。

And some species can extend it several inches.

某些品種還能伸到好幾英吋遠。

But, as it turns out, a foot is just one of the many bizarre features you'll find inside a clam.

結果，腳只是蛤蠣眾多奇異特點的其中之一。

Like oysters and mussels, clams are bivalves, a kind of mollusk that's encased in a shell made of 2 valves, or hinging parts.

就像牡蠣與淡菜，蛤蠣也是雙殼貝類，一種生活在兩片殼裡的軟體動物。

And that shell comes in all different sizes.

而牠們的殼有各種不同形狀。

There are small clams, like these, which are often used for cooking.

有小蛤蠣，就像這些，牠們常被當作食物烹煮。

And then there are giant clams, which can grow more than a meter long and weigh as much as 250 kilograms.

還有巨型蛤蠣，牠們可以長到一公尺長，重達 250 公斤。

But no matter their size, clams have some truly bizarre stuff going on inside.

不論尺寸，蛤蠣有些真的很怪異的東西，就藏在殼裡。

And to get a closer look, we went clamming.

為了更深入地觀察蛤蠣，我們去捕了些蛤蠣。

Oh, God.

噢，天啊。

That's marine biologist Soren Dahl, who took us clamming on Long Island.

這是海洋生物學家 Soren Dahl，他帶我們到長島補蛤蠣。

At first, we didn't have much luck.

一開始，我們運氣並不太好。

I got one, but it looks like it's dead.

我撈到一隻，但感覺已經死了。

"Old shell".

老殼。

Oh, I got a crab.

噢，我抓到一隻螃蟹。

Then we stumbled upon what's known as a honey hole.

然後我們偶然找到了「蜜穴」。

It's basically a clammer's code word for jackpot.

其實就是捕蛤蠣者所謂的「中大獎」。

Hey! I got 2!

嘿！我撈到兩隻！

All right!

讚哦！

And in the end, we found about a dozen hard clams.

最後，我們大約撈到一打蛤蠣。

This right here is my recently collected, my recently collected clams, and I have a lot of them.

這些是我最近蒐集到的蛤蠣，我有一大堆。

Now, to see what's inside, you can't exactly pry one open with your bare hands.

要看看裡頭有什麼，你無法空手打開牠。

And that's thanks to these 2 muscles.

原因是這兩種肌肉。

They run from the inside of one shell to the other.

這些肌肉連接兩個殼。

And when clams sense a threat or find themselves out of water, they contract, causing the clam to, you know, clam up.

當蛤蠣感知到危險或發現自己離開水了，牠們會收縮，闔起牠們的殼。

So, to get one open, you need to cut through those muscles.

因此，你得切開這些肌肉才能打開蛤蠣。

Now, you have your, this is your hard-shell clam.

好了，這是你的硬殼蛤蠣。

Both of, so that...those two muscles together create a muscle that goes from here to here?

所以，這兩塊肌肉，本來是那連接兩片殼的肌肉？

Yep, this...this goes from this side to that side.

沒錯，這個從這邊生長到那邊。

And what about that strange foot?

那牠奇怪的腳又是怎麼回事？

This is the foot, right here.

這就是牠的腳，這邊。

So, it might not be as impressive as this, but that's just because here the foot is retracted.

看起來或許沒有很厲害，但那只是因為這邊的腳已經收縮起來了。

And they'll extend this out of the clam, and they can push themselves along the bottom and use it to dig a hole to help bring themselves into, like, a burrow.

牠們可以把腳伸出殼，從底部推著前進，然後用腳來挖洞，還有幫助自己進入洞穴。

And some clams are particularly dexterous with their foot.

而有些蛤蠣，特別會用腳。

The razor clam, for example, can bury itself 70 cm underground.

舉例來說，剃刀蛤可以把自己埋至地底 70 公分深的地方。

It uses rapid movements of its foot to fluidize the ground around it, essentially turning it into quicksand.

牠會快速移動足部，來讓附近的地面流質化，最後變成流沙。

But if you think clam feet are bizarre, check out this thing: the siphon.

如果你覺得蛤蠣腳很詭異，再看看這東西：虹管。

Siphons are essentially 2 connected straws that clams stick out of their shells.

虹管基本上就是兩支連在一起的吸管，而蛤仔把它們伸出殼外。

One pulls in water, which contains food particles and oxygen, and the other expels waste.

其中一支吸進含有食物微粒與氧氣的水，另一支則排出廢物。

And none is more impressive than the one belonging to the geoduck clam.

而沒有其他蛤蠣的虹管比得上象拔蚌。

It's so big the clam can't even close its shell.

它大到象拔蚌無法闔起牠的殼。

While siphons allow clams to eat and breathe, some clams have another, more advanced tactic for getting nutrients.

虹管讓普通蛤蠣能夠進食與呼吸，而某些蛤仔還有更進化的手法來取得養分。

Instead of just sucking food out of the water, giant clams farm it themselves.

與其從水中取得食物，大蛤蠣自己會「種」食物。

Like coral, they have a symbiotic relationship with microalgae.

如同珊瑚，他們與微藻類有共生關係。

The clams provide algae with a place to live and photosynthesize.

這種蛤蠣提供藻類地方來生長與行光合作用。

And in exchange, algae gives the clam byproducts of photosynthesis, such as sugars, which enables the giant clams to grow, you know, giant.

作為交換，藻類會給蛤蠣他們光合作用的副產物，如醣類，這使得大蛤蠣可以長得...很大。

Now, on rare occasions, there's something else you might find inside a clam: a pearl.

在某些特殊的情況，你可能會在蛤蠣裡找到別的東西：珍珠。

That's right, oysters aren't the only pearl producers out there.

沒錯，不是只有牡蠣會長出珍珠。

Clams, too, will form these shimmering clumps to trap irritants that enter their shells.

蛤仔，牠們也會長出這閃亮的一團東西，來包住那些進入牠們殼內的刺激物。

In fact, a fisherman once found a 34-kilogram pearl inside a giant clam.

其實，一名漁夫就曾在大蛤蠣中找到一顆重達 34 公斤的珍珠。

So, yeah, clams aren't just fascinating; they might also be precious.

所以了，蛤蠣不只是迷人而已，牠們也可以很珍貴。

Plus, they actually play an important role in their environment.

而且，牠們其實在環境中也扮演著重要的角色。

By sucking up particles to eat, they function like natural water filters, making marshes, lakes, and other habitats more livable.

吸食微粒的動作，讓蛤蠣成為天然的水質過濾器，讓沼澤、湖泊等棲息地更加健康。

And, on top of that, they're delicious to eat.

更重要的是，牠們很好吃。

Not to mention, really fun to collect.

還有，撈蛤蠣也很好玩。