Geoduck: The Giant Burrowing Clam!

Imagine a clam that's bigger than your lunchbox and has a neck that's as long as a playground slide! That's a geoduck! Its name comes from a Native American word. These amazing clams are the biggest burrowing clams on the whole planet. They spend their lives buried deep in the sand at the bottom of the ocean, with only their long necks sticking out to breathe and eat.

Geoducks love to hang out in the cool, salty waters along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. You can find them from the chilly waters of Alaska all the way down to the sunny shores of Baja California in Mexico. They like to burrow into the sandy or muddy seafloor, where they can stay safe and hidden from hungry sea creatures.

Get ready for a WOW fact! Geoducks are super-duper old. They can live for more than 140 years! That's longer than your grandparents, and even your great-grandparents, have been alive! The oldest geoduck ever found was almost 180 years old. They keep track of their age by making rings on their shells, just like trees make rings.

Geoducks are filter feeders. This means they use their long necks, called siphons, to suck in tiny bits of food from the water. They eat plankton, which are super small plants and animals floating in the ocean. It's like they have a built-in straw to slurp up their dinner right from the sea!