Watch This Clam ‘Lick’ Salt Off Of A Table With Giant ‘Tongue’ (VIDEO)

URL copied to clipboard.
clam
  • Newest YouTube star? This explorative clam.

    Since being uploaded on July 8, this video has been viewed over 400,000 times, along with being embedded in many articles that track its viral reaction. And this one, uploaded by another YouTube channel, has over 1 million views. Either way, this sodium-chloride-seeking clam is attracting a lot of attention.

    While it’s easy for us to liken the clam’s flat, salt-lapping appendage to a giant tongue scraping some leftovers off of a table top, that theory has been debunked.

    Miriam Goldstein, a graduate student of oceanography at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, told MailOnline that the clam is definitely not eating salt because what we see emerging is its foot — not a tongue. Goldstein said that most clams use their feet to dig through sand or mud, so this viral character is probably trying to dig itself in.

    In fact, clams don’t eat salt, but they rather absorb tiny plants and animals in water through their siphons. The salt may actually be hurting the clam, which could explain why it draws its foot in towards the end of the video.

    Despite the most likely tragic fate of this clam, he successfully charmed the Internet for a short while.

More headlines