Sue Hollis , Iridescent Blue (January Theme: Blue)

A beautiful sight to behold, the giant clam, is the largest living bivalve mollusc. At times weighing more than 200kg, these bottom feeding behemoths have an average lifespan of around 100 years in the wild. Giant clams start out as males before becoming a hermaphrodite (producing both eggs and sperm). This trait allows them to reproduce with any member of their species, thus eliminating the burden of finding a compatible partner. The largest clams can release up to 500 million eggs at a time.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.