Queen parrotfish

The queen parrotfish occurs in the Western Central Atlantic ranging from Bermuda to northern South America and throughout the Caribbean Sea.

The queen parrotfish inhabits coral reefs and adjacent habitats, from 3-25 m depth. The parrot fishes are closely related to the wrasses. It is often observed in groups of one supermale with several young adults, most of which are believed to be females. For identification of the supermale, note the distinct markings on the nose, pectoral fins and tail and the lunate tail.

The main difference is the teeth: parrotfishes have teeth fused into a parrotlike beak that is used to crunch through coral and other hard material.

Maximum reported size us 61 cm TL (male). Size at maturity and age at first maturity are estimated as 30.6 cm TL and 1.1 years, respectively.

The female queen parrotfish is brown with a broad, whitish side stripe. The male is blue-green, with wavy, yellow and green stripes on the head.
Queen parrotfish

Hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria)

The hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, is known by a variety of common names, including hard shell clam, round clam, quahog, mud clam, and northern quahog. Formerly hard clam was known as the common round clam or simply the round clam.

Quahog is probably the oldest one still used and is derived from its use by native Americans.

The name ‘mercenaria’ from the Latin term for money, was given to the clam by a famous biologists, Carl Linnaeus.

Hard clams is found in the northern United States and as far as the Gulf of St. Lawrence, it also is found along the entire Atlantic coast of the United States and its distribution is reported to extend through the Gulf of Mexico.

The hard calm occurs in groups ranging from small patches to extensive beds at intertidal and subtidal depths, from sand to muddy sand sediments.

The hard clam industry is the largest of all the clam species and represents more than 50% of the dockside value of all clams harvested.

These clams are sold in the shell by size. They are graded for increasing size as littleneck, cherrystone, and chowder. There is a large variability in the growth rate of hard clams, they reach commercial size sometime between 2 and 5 years; clams in southern waters grow more quickly.
Hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) 

Processing of Hard Shell Clam

Processing of Hard Shell Clam
In preparing hard shell clam for the market, they are washed with sea water graded for size, and cooled. Some clams may be taken from semi polluted waters provided they are depurated.

In the shell, hard shell clams are marketed according to size. The different sizes are “chowders” (large size), which are used to prepare chowders, fritters, or stuffed clams; “cherrystones” (medium size), which are used for baking; and:”little necks” (small size), which are used as steamed clams or for eating raw on the half shell. Hard shell clams are neither canned nor frozen in significant quantities.

Hard Shell clams may be cultured. In such instances, the bottom is first prepared by removing thick grass, stones and other debris. Predators, such as starfish, cockles, conchs and welks, are removed by raking and by towing floor mops over the bottom (to entangle starfish). The young clams, raised in tanks, are then spread over the area by scattering them from the side of the boat, using a shovel. Once seeded, the area is left undisturbed to permit the clams to grow to harvesting size. Predators may be removed from times to time. After seeding, the area may seed itself naturally.
Processing of Hard Shell Clam