Blaine Parker was digging in the sand at at Alligator Point, Florida to collect shellfish for a delicious chowder. He found a quahog clam that not only could be the bowls for the chowder but turned out to be very special in another way.
"We were just going to eat it, but we thought about it a while and figured it was probably pretty special. So, we didn't want to kill it," says Parker, an Americorp member who works at the nearby Gulf Specimen Marine Lab.
Turns out, the 2.6 pound clam is more than 200 years-old.
From Tallahassee Democrat:
There are 214 layers on the shell of the clam he found, which would mean it was likely born in 1809, the same year as Abraham Lincoln. It was also discovered on Presidents Day weekend. So, Parker named his find Aber-clam Lincoln[…]
A 507-year-old clam, found in the Icelandic seabed and named Ming, broke the Guinness World Record for oldest animal when it was discovered in 2007.
