When Gordon Burns glanced out of his window onto Revere Beach Sunday morning, he saw what looked like thousands of black shimmering rocks on the beach stretching for miles in either direction.
But he and his partner Dung Doan soon realized they weren’t rocks, but surf clams – tens of thousands of dead ones left behind in Nemo’s fierce wake. Doan then walked 3.5 miles of the beach taking pictures – and the clams were littered across that entire expanse.
“It was devastating for me to see it, there didn’t seem to be an inch of the beach that wasn’t covered with them,” said Burns on Monday. “And for some reason or another the seagulls would not eat them. We’ve never seen anything like it.”
Revere beachcombers probably haven’t – but beaches in the region have experienced similar deposits of marine life from storms, state officials say.
Paul Diodati, Director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said the surf clams (often used in clam chowder or in fried clam strips) were thrown onto the beach by waves that disturbed the shellfish as they buried in shallow sandy areas.
He said it was a shame to see, but the surf clam population will quickly recover.
Anyone else finding lots of sea life on the beach from the storm?
– Beth Daley
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2013/02/_photo_by_gordon_k.html
