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Clam

Photographer Valerie Taylor (born 1935)

DateFebruary 1985

Object numberANMS1468[912]

NamePhotographic slide

MediumColour transparency film

DimensionsOverall (inc carrier): 50 × 50 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program by Valerie Taylor in memory of Ron Taylor

Terms

DescriptionBivalves are a group of molluscs that includes clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, and shipworms. They have two hinged shells covering their body, ranging in size from a 1-millimetre clam to 1-metre in length like the giant clam that can weigh up 230 kilograms. They are mostly filter feeders that have evolved to live in many different habitats. Some can burrow into soft bottom sediments, some attach themselves to solid surfaces, while others move about freely. Some can even burrow into wood and rock. SignificanceValerie has a special connection with animals and this is best seen in her photography of marine species. As an accomplished photographer alongside her husband’s underwater filming, they have an amazing catalogue of films and images they created together. Valerie’s imagery has been published across books and magazines around the world. She has numerous prestigious honours for her contributions to conservation by using these pictures to help promote the importance and protection of the animals she has dived with and gotten to know firsthand. Valerie’s photographs also give you an intimate viewing into her career. Her images take you behind the scenes of filmmaking, epic seafaring journeys to remote spots and for many locations, capturing marine ecosystems often when they were much healthier than what can be seen today.