I just wanted to give all the locals a heads up. There has been a buzz on the web about hybridized crocea/maxima or as they are coined “maxea”. They are nothing more then cultured crocea’s that are being hyped up to increase the price. Dont get me wrong, these are attractive clams but in the US we almost never get cultured crocea’s. What we usually see are wild collected crocea’s form Veitnam that are typically blue, green or purple.
Dont let your self get taken for $300, $400, $500 on-line or at a LFS for this new “hybrid” when its really an ordinary crocea that most farms cant give away.
I read an article on reefbuilders about these clams a week or so ago. If you werent convinced reading Chris’s little blurb here, check out his comments on this blog.
[quote=“moliken, post:4, topic:1274”]
give me one of those new derasquamaxea any old day for a billion $ or so[/quote]
Moliken, Im all for people getting a fair price for their produce and if someone is willing to pay $500 for one of these clams because they think its gorgeous then more power to them. But the main thing i dont like about this whole thing is they are promoting them as something they are not and people are buying them more for the perceived rare factor at an inflated price. Buy claiming them to be hybrids it puts them in the extremely rare (non-existent) category when in fact these colors and patterns are how most cultured croceas turn out. If they were brought in as what they really are the price would be about $50 to $100 each retail. I hope they keep bring them in because they will fill a void with Veitnam being closed, but the marketing reminds me of the eco-aqualizer and Mark Weise products