Natures wonders: clams have symbiotic algae (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, November 19, 2024, 16:37 (14 days ago) @ David Turell

Latest study:

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/clam-fiber-optics-symbiotic-algae

"In a discovery that blurs the line between biology and technology, scientists have found that heart-shaped clams use fiber optic–like structures to channel sunlight through their shells in much the same way that telecommunications company use fiber optics to deliver high-speed internet connectivity into homes.

"This innovation, a first known example of bundled fiber optics in a living creature, helps to explain how heart cockles (Corculum cardissa) — a marine bivalve found in shallow waters across the Indian and Pacific Oceans — harness sunlight to nourish symbiotic algae living within, while protecting them from harmful ultraviolet rays. In return, the algae provide the clams with sugars and other essential nutrients.

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"Heart cockles are small, walnut-sized bivalves best known for their distinctive shell shape. But a close look reveals the shells are pockmarked with “windows” — minute, transparent structures that permit light to pass through.

"This unique architecture is rooted in the special properties of aragonite, a crystalline form of calcium carbonate (SN:1/21/03). These aragonite crystals are arranged in micron-sized tubes that function like fiber-optic cables, guiding light with exceptional precision, while filtering out harmful ultraviolet radiation that could damage the clams’ symbiotic algae or their own delicate tissues.

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"Computer simulations further demonstrated that the arrangement of the fiber optic–like structures represents an evolutionary trade-off, finely tuned to balance the shell’s mechanical strength with its ability to efficiently transmit light.

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"The heart cockles aren’t alone in channeling sunlight to symbiotic algae. Other marine creatures, such as giant clams, do this too (SN: 6/22/18). But whereas these massive, ridged bivalves rely on specialized cells to draw in beneficial sunlight, heart cockles, with their shells shut tight, take advantage of their unique aragonite architecture.

“'They’re using minerals in their shells to do this and not biological structures,” says Sarah Lemer, an evolutionary geneticist at the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change in Hamburg, Germany, who was not involved in the study. “It’s really neat.”

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“'Billions of years of product design have gone into this,” McCoy points out. Tapping into the heart cockles’ shell design, she says, could lead to unmatched light-transmission capabilities — leaving the human end-users of these technologies as happy as clams."

Comment: A new approach from nature teaches us as once natural Velcro did.