Hard Clam Research Project

Marine Science Professor Stephen Tettelbach and more than 20 of his students are engaged in a two-year research project to find out why Long Island's hard clam population has steadily declined for a 25-year period. The study, funded by the New York Sea Grant Institute, hypothesizes that changes in the composition and availability of food for hard clams have reduced the number, size and biochemical composition of eggs spawned and the timing of maximum reproductive activity. The researchers have harvested samples from seven different sites in the waters off Long Island's south shore.