The Wonders of God’s Creation
The geoduck is not a bird, as the name would suggest. It is a large clam found deep in the sand off the ocean shorelines of Washington, Oregon and northern California. Its name comes from an Indian word meaning “dig deep,” but has been changed to the comical name gooey-duck. It is one of the largest clams, except for some deep-ocean giant clams that reach 500 pounds and may be up to four feet long.
Something odd is that its five-pound body bulges out all around the two halves of its seven-inch shell, which seems not large enough to give it full protection. But the Creator has not made a mistake in this design; He has well adapted it to its home beyond the shoreline. Only twice a year is this creature slightly exposed to danger. Here is how that comes about.
The geoduck’s body is always completely buried under about three feet of sand, but has a siphon (tube) extending above the sand into the water through which it secures food from water washing over it. Fish may see the top of the siphon, but leave it alone since they don’t know what’s at the other end, nor could they dig through the sand to reach it if they wanted to.
But there are two-day periods twice a year (in spring and fall) when extra-low tides take place, and only then can clam-diggers reach them. However, they aren’t easy to find, because the moment digging starts the gooey-duck quickly pulls its siphon all the way down, and the hunter, digging through three feet of sand with a shovel and bare hands, often cannot locate the clam.
Because these large clams are now so scarce, people are not allowed to catch more than one a day during these two periods each year. But most clam-diggers consider them well worth the effort because of the wonderful flavor of more than four pounds of clean, boneless clam meat when made into chowder or cut into strips and fried with a cracker-crumb coating. However they are eaten, one clam supplies enough meat to make two good meals for most families.
As we have noticed in some of our other articles, there are many odd creatures in the oceans. But they all are a part of God’s creation, and when He brought them forth He proclaimed, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas.” Genesis 1:2222And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. (Genesis 1:22). They have done this “after their kind” ever since, never changing into something else, as we sometimes read or hear. The Lord God declared that everything He made “was good,” and nothing has needed a long period to evolve to its present state.
His instruction to young people is, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth” (Eccl. 12:11Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; (Ecclesiastes 12:1)), and also, “Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.” Job 37:1414Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. (Job 37:14). It is well worthwhile to do this. These instructions carry much wisdom.
ML-10/02/1988