It's not eating salt. Have you ever seen salt on a slug? It dries it up. Kills it. That thing you're seeing coming out of the shell is basically a foot or an anchor that it uses to dig itself into the sand. It does this to keep from being washed away. Every time it sticks that foot out and hits sand, and pulls it back inside the shell, it's not eating the salt. It's pulling back because it can't bury itself into the hardwood table. And each time, the salt is just rubbing the clam raw and drying it up. This guy or girl is basically forcing the clam to commit suicide. This is torture.