Blood Clam

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Not Exactly Beauties, These Clams Have a Winning Taste. New York Times, May 11, 2011 (title in print)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/dining/blood-clams-worth-a-second-look.html?scp=1&sq=blood%20clam&st=cse

Note:
(a) hard clam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_clam
(Mercenaria mercenaria; an edible marine bivalve mollusk which is native to the eastern shores of North America, from Prince Edward Island to the Yucatán Peninsula[, Mexico])

Quote:

"In fishmarkets there are specialist names for different sizes of this species of clam. The smallest clams are called countnecks, next size up are littlenecks, then topnecks. Above that are the cherrystones, and the largest are called quahogs or chowder clams.

"This name comes from the Narragansett word 'poquauhock' – the word is similar in Wampanoag and some other Algonquian languages – and is first attested in North American English in 1794. As New England Indians made valuable beads called wampum from the shells, especially those colored purple, the species name mercenaria is related to the Latin word for commerce.

* mercenary (n; Latin mercenarius, irregular from merced-, merces wages — more at MERCY):
"one that serves merely for wages; especially : a soldier hired into foreign service"
www.m-w.com

(b) For blood clam, see blood cockle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_cockle
(Anadara granosa; red haemoglobin liquid inside)

* cockle (n; from Middle French coquille shell, from Greek konchē conch):
* A clam can do both aerobic and anaerobic metabolism. In the former, a clam extract oxygen from water through gills. The oxygen is dissolved directly in body fluid. An clam has an open circulatory system (as opposed to closed system where the fluid is circulated within blood vessels).

(c) ceviche
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceviche
(made from fresh raw fish marinated in citrus juices such as lemon or lime and spiced with chilli peppers)

It is an American Spanish word, with Spanish pronunciation. www.m-w.com
(d) blanch (vt; from Anglo-Franch blanc, adjective, white — more at BLANK):
"to take the color out of: as * * * to scald or parboil in water or steam in order to remove the skin from, whiten, or stop enzymatic action in (as food for freezing)"

(e) The clam intrigues me, so I delve into it: it has 紅血球 red blood cells (or erythrocytes in medical term) which contains hemoglobin 血紅素/血紅蛋白.

* Species Fact Sheets: Anadara granosa (Linnaeus, 1758). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, undated.
http://www.fao.org/fishery/species/3503/en
(external appearance: About 18 radial ribs; found also in China and Taiwan; Local Names: JAPAN hai-gai [灰貝])

* Ark clams: Family Arcidae. Wild Singapore, updated Oct 10 (year unknown; in the column Fact Sheets)
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/mollusca/bivalvia/arcidae/arcidae.htm
("Unlike most other bivalves, some ark clam species have bodies that are orange or reddish. This is due to the presence of haemoglobin, the same substance that colours our own blood red too. Haemoglobin assists in transporting oxygen within the body and help ark clams thrive in oxygen-poor habitats")

* Eapen JT and Patel B, Haematological evaluation of naphthalene intoxication in the tropical arcid blood clam Anadara granosa. Marine Biology 100: 223-226 (1989)
http://www.springerlink.com/content/t5282180n65m1678/
(sentence 3: "a very few species have erythrocytes; arcid clams, however, are unique in having
erythrocytes")
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