A butter clam. Butter clams are found from the Aleutian Islands to the California coast. They are known to retain algal toxins longer than other species of shellfish. (Photo provided by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife)
A butter clam. Butter clams are found from the Aleutian Islands to the California coast. They are known to retain algal toxins longer than other species of shellfish. (Courtesy/Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife)

Butter clams, important to many Alaskans’ diets, are notorious for being sources of the toxin that causes sometimes-deadly paralytic shellfish poisoning.

Now a new study is providing information that might help people harvest the clams more safely and monitor the…