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A video of a live clam apparently seasoning itself with salt on a kitchen table has gone viral on YouTube.

The clam looks like it is repeatedly sticking its 'tongue' out of its shell to lick up grains of salt from the table top.

The clip has notched up 344,000 views on the video-sharing website, reports the Daily Mail.

It was posted four days ago by a user who added the comment: "Considerate clams flavour themselves before being eaten."

But expert Miriam Goldstein, a graduate student of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, said all was not as it seemed.

"The clam is not eating salt," she said. "That appendage isn't the clam's tongue, it's the clam's foot.

"This clam on the table is probably trying to find a place to dig itself in."