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Transplanted ‘super clams’ thrive, sparking hope of cleansing gunked-up Indian River Lagoon

| Jim Waymer |

Whatever genes it takes to survive our collective waste, these clams seem to have them. They are, in the words of one researcher, “super clams.”

According to some scientists, these bivalve heroes could be a key to helping restore the waters of the Indian River Lagoon and help solve the problem of one of Florida’s worst man-made environmental messes.

We provide plenty of sewage, fertilizer and runoff that fuels algae for them to wolf down. And these tough clams do. Despite recent dips in the lagoon’s salt and oxygen levels and thick mats of seafoam, the baby clams recently transplanted from hardy lineages in Mosquito Lagoon to a lab, then to waters near River Rocks restaurant in Suntree, are providing glimmers of hope that the “super clams” could join an army of other filter feeders to help cleanse the ailing estuary.