Blair Wiggins and others of the Indian River Lagoon Clam Restoration Project have placed an 12 million clams which helps filter out the bad algae. When the algae gets out of control it blocks the sunlight from reaching the bottom of the lagoon, which has an adverse effect on seagrass.
Clams can survive in bad water until it improves, then become active again to filter the lagoon. The clams that Wiggins and his crew are placing were spawned from clams from the south end of Mosquito Lagoon, where the water quality is poor. Wiggins says that makes them “super clams” because they have been aclimated to survive in a bad environment and will be more likely to survive.
Although oysters also help the lagoon by filtering the water, oysters do not have the ability to lie dormant until conditions improve, which clams can do.
Watch the video on Florida Today.
Indian River Lagoon Clam Restoration Project (floridatoday.com)