Name that animal - round 6

The "avian name" for the odd creature in the previous round was correctly identified by wdh as "Gooey Duck," (a saltwater clam found on the Pacific coast of the U.S. and Canada).

Two points are of particular interest. First, the name itself. It's spelled "geoduck" but pronounced "gooey duck," and if you were in the Senior Spelling Bee and asked to spell "gooey duck" you wouldn't spell it "g-e-o..." if you tried for a month of Sundays. Wiki suggests that the English word is a poor transcription of the native American word (which literally means "dig deep.") Alternate spellings include gweduc, gweduck and goiduck.

Now, about that "dig deep." Many TYWKIWDBI readers have probably dug clams at the seashore. Retrieving a geoduck is more challenging, because they anchor themselves about a meter below the surface. That protected location allows them to live for 150 years (!!) out of the reach of most predators. Commercial harvesting utilizes high pressure hoses. Capture by amateurs may require the "duck diving" method shown in the photo (credit to Dark Roasted Blend for this image and the original one.)

More info on this remarkable creature is available at Man and Mollusc, which also has many links. For photos of geoducks, go to this Dark Roasted Blend page; warning - the images are so phallic in appearance that the page is almost NSFW; it is also apparent why this mollusc is prized in Asian cuisine for its reputation of enhancing "male potential."


Now on to Round 6. The image on the left is not of the animal itself, but is associated with the animal in a special - and utterly remarkable - way. Half credit just for guessing what the "thing" is.