Mercenaria Mercenaria- The Quahog Clam
The Mercenaria Mercenaria, Quahog Clam, or hard clam, is one of the strangest "animals" alive. It has no brain, heart, or skeletal system. The "skeleton" of a clam is its hard exterior. The exterior is made of calcium carbonate, or aragonite. Aragonite also makes up the exterior of eggshells. But when you get inside of the , it has a soft interior. Its interior, which is commonly eaten as food, is just clusters of nerves. The nerves are amassed to move the foot on the bottom. This in turn moves the clam around. The clam's shell will almost always protect it from harm, such as being crushed under a rock, to being swallowed by a fish- as long as it doesn't have a developed digestive system, enough to dissolve the shell.