GMGI Discovery Series: In Living Color – Giant Clams, Up Close

Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute

Join Joshua Boger for an exciting presentation of his underwater photography as part of GMGI's Spring 2022 Discovery Series!

Giant clams are the largest living bivalve mollusks, reaching sizes as large as 4.5ft and weighing as much as 550lbs. Distributed widely in the warmer parts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, these highly colorful creatures can live 100 years or more, each fixed to one spot for all of its adult life. Young giant clams get most of their energy by filter feeding, like their smaller, more culinarily-familiar cousins, but the larger adult clams grow to their huge sizes by utilizing a uniquely efficient and effective solar power plant, using symbiotic photosynthetic algae housed within their soft clam skin.
Colors and patterns are used for several reasons around the animal kingdom, most notably mating or defense, but none of the usual reasons seem to apply to giant clams. How do giant clams use their differing, bright colors? And how does their unique solar power system work so efficiently? Join Dr. Boger as he shares his under water macro photographs from more than twenty years of diving, and take a closer look at these magnificent creatures, under threat from overfishing, pollution, and ocean warming. Q &amp; A to be moderated by Andrea Bodnar, Ph.D., GMGI Donald G. Comb Science Director.Joshua Boger Ph.D. is the Founder and Former CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Boger holds a bachelor of arts in Chemistry and Philosophy from Wesleyan University and a master's and doctorate degrees in Chemistry from Harvard University. He is an expert scuba dive, with more than 800 logged dives, and is a professional underwater photographer, showing frequently over the past decade, concentrating on macrophotography that explores detailed colors and patterns in unfamiliar underwater environments that illuminate a broader visual understanding of – and appreciation for – our only world.Enjoy cocktails and hors d'oeuvres as you learn from Dr. Boger and get a chance to tour our institute's laboratories with GMGI researchers! Doors open at 5:30pm, presentation begins at 6pm.

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GMGI Discovery Series: In Living Color – Giant Clams, Up Close

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GMGI Discovery Series: In Living Color – Giant Clams, Up Close

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