Ctenoides ales, known to scuba divers as the “electric clam” or “disco clam”, is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Limidae, the file clams. The clam has been given these nicknames because its soft tissues flash light like a disco ball.
Studies revealed that it is not a bioluminescence phenomenon, but is instead coming from reflection of the ambient light, either the sun or diving light. It was my second sighting when we dive in Moalboal last June, a rare specie I didn’t encounter them in any other dive sites we visited so far.
Life in the Great Beyond 