It sounds like a schlocky 1950s horror flick: a war across the Asia-Pacific triggered by a horde of giant clams. Unfortunately, this is not "Roger Corman Presents." It's the worst possible outcome of an actual crisis playing out in the South China Sea.

The giant clams in question aren't out to conquer the world; in fact, many of them are long dead. Rather, the problem stems from their shells, which can be worth a fortune in China, where they are used to make jewelry and statues.

This bounty has led to fleets of Chinese fishermen from the island province of Hainan taking the clams and their shells illegally from contested waters. It would be bad enough in itself, but the method used to extract them involves shredding vast coral reefs that were millennia in the making, are vital to fisheries and tourism, and are already suffering from climate change and all types of "illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing " — a global industry that brings in an estimated $15 billion to $36 billion a year