Anadara granosa (also known as Tegillarca granosa) is a species of ark clam known as the blood cockle due to the red haemoglobin liquid inside. It is found throughout the Indo-Pacific region from the eastern coast of South Africa northwards and eastwards to Southeast Asia, Australia, Polynesia, and up to northern Japan. It lives mainly in the intertidal zone at one to two metres water depth, burrowed down into sand or mud. Adult size is about 5 to 6 cm long and 4 to 5 cm wide.
It has a high economic value as food, and it is kept in aquaculture. Just on the coast of Zhejiang Province alone, blood cockle plantations occupy around 145,000 mu (about 100 km2) of mudflats. These claims are raised in the river estuaries of the neighboring Fujian Province as well.
It is served steamed, boiled, roasted, or traditionally raw.
Famous quotes containing the word blood:
“I was born upon thy bank, river,
My blood flows in thy stream,
And thou meanderest forever
At the bottom of my dream.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)