A total of 120 kilograms of blood clam from Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang province were loaded onto a vessel on Dec 2 bound for South Korea, marking the first time that the seafood has been sold abroad.

Blood clam, also known as blood cockle, is so called because of the red hemoglobin liquid inside the soft tissues.

An official at Taizhou Customs said that the present small shipment is just to test the waters in preparation for larger shipments in the future.

Sanmen aquatic product breeding bases are looking to familiarize themselves with the customs clearing process for large quantities of blood clams, he explained.

In October, a business delegation from South Korea visited Sanmen and ordered a few hundred thousand kilograms of blood clams.

In a bid to ensure their smooth export, local custom authorities rolled out a guideline instructing local enterprises to submit required materials concerning animal quarantine.

Blood clams must be kept alive from fishing until they arrive in South Korea, meaning customs must find a way to shorten time for inspection and quarantine so as to improve the survival rate of the animal, the official said.