Razor clams were first found in Coal Harbor, Alaska in 1788, close to the Kenai Peninsula community of Homer. Razor clams are found in sandy, surf-swept beaches and coastal bays. Razor clams live their entire life in the same location as they are only able to dig themselves down deeper into the sand and the back to the surface again. They are not capable to move horizontally at all. They spend part of their time too deep in the sand, sometimes more than four feet, to be disturbed by clam diggers. Razor clam matures during their second year. The harvestable size is 3.5" and at the end of the second year they are about 4.5". Some of the old razor clams are know to have reached 7" size. After the second year their groth is minimal. Some razor clams in Alaska have attained the age of 18 years.
Razor clamming commercially has occurred in Alaska since 1916 in the Cordova area and 1919 in the Cook Inlet area. Annually some 600,000 pounds have been harvested in Cordova and 500,000 pounds in Cook Inlet. In 1964 the earthquake affected razor clam populations in the Cordova area. Swikshak Beach on the Alaska Peninsula is the only other beach certified for the human consumption. Harvesting there has occurred continually since 1929.
The outermost shell is brown when the razor clam is young. It gradually turns to yellowish shade of brown in medium-sized animals and changes again to brown with age. The inside is glossy white, sometimes with purple areas showing through.
In addition to the Pacific razor clam there are Arctic razor clams and Nothern razor clams. The Arctic razor clams are found from the Cook Inlet all the way up to Siberia, Russia. The Pacific razor clams are foun from Pismo, California all the way up to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. The fouth type of razor clam is Atlantic razor clam and it is not the same genus and is not very siliar to the Arctic nor the Pacific razor clams.
