The Crocea Clam, also called Crocus, is one of several Giant Clams. It also has the seemingly contradictory name of Dwarf Giant Clam
as it is the smallest of the giants, growing to some 15cm wide. Another of its common names is the Boring Giant Clam, not because it isn't interesting but
because it burrows into the hard substrate to hide. This practice means that most ornamentation on the shell is smoothed off. Like other giant clams, it
has a colourful mantle. (The third image above shows a comparison of two Maxima or "Small" Giant Clams in the background and one Crocea or "Dwarf" in the
foreground.) It is native to coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific. They hatch as free-swimming larvae. After their first years as a clam they become male and
later hermaphrodite.