ABSTRACT
Giant clams (F Tridacnidae) are confined to IndoPacific waters of sufficient warmth for their survi val but some species are restricted in range to waters in the vicinity of the Malaysian-Indonesian Archipelago through to Fiji in the west and bounded in the south by the tropical waters of Australia. The range of Hippopus hippopus, Tridacna gigas and Tridacna derasa as suggested by Rosewater (1965) are indicated in Figure 5. The range of Tridacna maxima and Tridacna squamosa is much greater. It includes most of the Indian Ocean above the Tropic of Capricorn and some portions below it (eg along the South African coast) and most of the West Pacific (see Rosewater, 1965, for details). However giant clams do not occur in the East Pacific nor in the Hawaiian Archipelago.
