Chapter 9 : Asian clam, Corbicula Fluminea, status in Malaysia

Abstract

Asian clam or its scientific name Corbicula fluminea is a freshwater clam that can be found throughout the world. This species is a native clam from Asia, Africa, and Australia (McMahon, 2000). Lately, many reports claimed the population of the clam dispersed into other non-native countries such as Europe and United States through aquaculture, transportation, and global trade (Cox, 2004) where posed a threat to the native clam. Fast growth, short life span and easy to breed are the characteristics that make Asian clam is an excellent invasive species. Europe and United States scientists are looking forward to inhibit the population growth of Asian clam in their countries in order to conserve the native clams and bivalves in the freshwater aquatic ecosystem. In Asia, C. fluminea was also reported found in Japan and claimed it as the invasive species (Okawa et al., 2016). Based on Asian clam nutrition profile, Japanese harvested this clam and processed it into human health supplement to be commercialised. In China, Asian clam was claimed possess high nutrient property and medicinal values (Zhu et al., 2018). However, the population of this small bivalve was reported declining in China especially at Hongze Lake. T