This small exotic was first established in the 1930s in the western U.S. and spread eastward. The first known occurrence along the Atlantic seaboard was on the Ocmulgee River; it is now abundant throughout the Altamaha River basin, in some areas numbering in the hundreds per square meter.
When severely crowded, Asiatic clams may interfere with native mussels by creating a "cobbled" substrate unsuitable for many other species.
