BEALS, Maine — June 6, 2014 — If you have a taste for sushi, you may have dined on some morsels of the arctic surf clam. Large, adult arctic surf clams have a sizeable purple-colored foot that, when harvested and removed, turns a reddish color. It is prized in Asian markets for an ingredient in sushi.
Brian Beal, professor of marine ecology at the University of Maine-Machias and director of research at the Downeast Institute on Great Wass Island in Beals, has his eyes on the arctic surf clam, but for a different reason.
Beal is leading a research project to determine if the species can be grown in eastern Maine’s lower intertidal mud flats, and if so, whether a market can be developed for arctic surf clams that are 1 ¼ to 1 ¾ inches long.
The arctic surf clam is a boreal species, found in the subarctic region of the Northern Hemisphere. They live on the ocean floor, 100-200 feet deep. It inhabits the waters of Alaska, Canada and Maine. They range as far south as Cape Cod in Massachusetts, although in deep water, according to Beal.
“The reason they’ve become a species of interest for consumers,” said Beal, discussing the research project at the institute’s research facilities on Wednesday, is because of a Japanese market for a similar species, the Japanese surf clam. Harvested off the coast of Japan, it is has the same kind of purple foot as the arctic surf clam.
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