And opinions varied about what might have caused the kills. On Wednesday and Thursday, fisheries experts collected tissue and water samples from the clams. Al Hodge, a water quality specialist with the North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources, said officials are checking to see if disease or a deadly microbe, Pfiesteria piscicida, might have been the culprit. Another theory is that rough waters stirred up by Hurricane Erika along the Outer Banks might have killed the clams. Hugh Porter, curator of the wildlife collection at the University of North Carolina's Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, said high waves churn up a lot of sand along the shore.
Clams are filter feeders.
They get packed with sediment and can't survive. Surf clams normally burrow an inch or so into the sand below the ocean. If they start dying, they lose their ability to burrow. Then they end up on the surface of the sand and stand a greater chance of being washed ashore. Surf clams grow up to 6 inches across and live along the Atlantic from Nova Scotia through Cape Hatteras.