Clams are weird. That cannot be denied. But, they do have one constant portrayal, that being that the top and bottom shells of bivalves are jaws for their mouths... right?
Well, no. In real life, the shell of a bivalve is actually the exoskeleton. This exoskeleton serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from mechanical damage and from predators; scallops even use their valves by flapping them together to swim in the water. The inside of a bivalve's shell contains various body parts such as its mantles, intestines, siphon, stomach intestine, heart, kidney, gills, shell-closing muscle, and ovary, with its foot sticking out and its mouth being a tiny part of its inside. Most fiction doesn't realize this fact, and many anthropomorphic clams are depicted as a vertically opening pair of jaws, making it more like a human face. They may be given features such as eyes on their top shell, or a tongue inside their shells; sometimes their eyes are inside their shells as well (although that last one is Accidentally-Correct Writing). This is usually so they can talk (with their "jaws" flapping as they speak) or so they can "eat" people. They also might just have a pearl resting in their mouths as well. Often, this trope also means that the clam is symmetrical in the new horizontal direction (end of shell to end of shell).
Sub-Trope of Funny Animal Anatomy and Artistic License – Marine Biology. See also Perplexing Pearl Production and Clam Trap for other tropes about inaccurate portrayals of bivalves in fiction, and Mouthy Bird for another trope about animals (specifically birds and other beaked animals) having mouths that they shouldn't have.
Examples:
- In Spider-Ham, Doc Clamson, the Doc Samson parody, is shown as a clam with an entire humanoid body, and a shock of green hair on the top of his shell. The actual clam is represented as just being his head.
- Clams in B.C. use the two halves of their shells as a mouth, and even walk around on shore on two legs! They're most notable for observing some phenomenon, and broadcasting the news loudly, such as "DINOS GOT WHEELS!"
- Mutts: Mussels Marinara often converses with Mooch, Earl and Crabby. Mussels also sports a pair of eyes on his upper shell, and speaks with such fervency that he levitates.
- In Finding Dory, Nemo and Marlin encounter one very talkative clam moving its shells as if it was a mouth.
- The Legend of the Titanic: In the sequel, Tentacolino, Mr. Ice's Villain Song is accompanied by a group of clams whose shells open and close to imitate mouth movements as they sing.
- Pinocchio: Upon diving to the seabed alongside Pinocchio, at one point, Jiminy Cricket asks a clam for the direction of Monstro. Upon hearing Monstro's name, the clam panics and closes over Jiminy in the manner of a trap's mouth, before burrowing below the sand. Luckily, Jiminy escapes the clam's mouth in a bubble a few seconds later.
- In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, the Cyclops makes his diorama of Alexander Clam Bell by sticking on googly eyes above the shell, giving it a large "mouth".
- The Muppets:
- The Muppets Take the Bowl: Chloe the Clam is one of the stars of a mock show called Keeping Up with the Crustaceans. Chloe's shells act as her mouth and she also has eyes.
- In the Madeline Kahn episode of The Muppet Show, Gonzo's crazy act of the week is Eric the Yodeling Clam, whose shell opens and shuts as he yodels.
- Chloe the Clam was a reworking of Jean-Dodd van Clamme from Episode 205 of Muppets Tonight.
- Club Penguin: In the game "Aqua Grabber", there is a giant clam with a pearl in its mouth. The clam is drawn with eyes, a tongue, and is even shown snoring with its mouth open Catching Some Z's.
- Donkey Kong Country series:
- The first game has a clam enemy called "Clambo" who has eyes and a tongue inside a shell that has a top and bottom half as its mouth.
- Donkey Kong 64: A Tiny Kong-based mission in Gloomy Galleon involves helping a mermaid getting her lost pearls back, as the Kremlings stole them and hid them inside of clams. Said clams have angry eyes on their upper shell, and even a large set of teeth. They open their "mouths" in a repetitive fashion, requiring a shrunken Tiny to fetch the pearls while avoiding being crushed by their teeth.
- Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds: One of the items Freddi and Luther can get (and is in fact required to get one of the clue bottles, depending on how the game sets up the exploration path) is a pearl from a trio of oysters that you play a shell game against, who also speak to the characters, and by extension, the player.
- Insaniquarium: Niko, a oyster, that opens up, to reveal a pearl, every so often, and has one of its shells laying down, with eyes on the other shell.
- In King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow, Alexander comes upon a sleepy oyster who has an achy mouth. Reading a dull book to it like a bedtime story, the oyster occasionally flaps its shell open and yawns, and if Alex is quick, he can snatch a pearl from inside. It promptly falls asleep with the source of the ache gone.
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii: There is a rare enemy called Clampy, a beautiful shimmering clam with eyes that opens its mouth to reveal a coin.
- Pikmin (2001): The Pearly Clamclamp enemy guards a pearl that it is very protective of, and will close its mouth over the Pikmin and eat them if they are not called back fast enough, even after they've recovered it.
- Pokémon: Played with for Cloyster and Clamperl; rather than having their shells act as mouths with eyes on top, they have a pearl inside of them with eyes and a mouth drawn on them. Played straight with Shellder though, who has eyes and a tongue inside his shell.
- Gridiron Heights: The fictional Delaware Clams mascot, Clammy the Clam opens and closes his clam shell mouth in order to speak.
Clammy: Gurgle gurgle! Clam noises!
- Back at the Barnyard: The episode "Save the Clams" depicts Archie the clam (and his eventual abundant offspring) as opening and closing his shells to act as a mouth, with his insides being shaped and colored like a tongue.
- Fish Hooks: Clamantha, a talking clam and one of the cast, is depicted speaking by opening her shell. Mr. Mussels, a talking mussel, takes the step further by having teeth lining his shell. However, in one episode Clamantha's father takes off his shell and reveals his soft body underneath.
- At the beginning of The Simpsons episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", Moe is selling oyster shells that are hand-painted to resemble Lucille Ball at the Springfield Swap Meet. Said oyster shells have lipstick on both shells and Moe even flaps the shells when he has it talking like a puppet.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: Clams and scallops are, like every other species in the series, sentient creatures — their shells act as their jaws when they speak (though they can also act as wings since clams are a lot like birds in the world of SpongeBob, which scallops actually can travel this way).
