Palisadian sands have an unusual visitor: bean clams. The tiny bivalves only appear on Westside beaches once every few years, Nick Fash, education manager at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and Heal and Bay, said. But after vanishing for nearly a decade, they are back at low tides. The light purple clams bury themselves into the wet sand: What children may spot is a hairy tuft that actually belongs to a separate animal called the hydroid, which is hitching a clam ride, Fash said.
—JOHN HARLOW
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