• Malleus regula (Forsskål, 1775)

Straight hammeroyster,
Japan: Niwatorigaki

Syn:

• Fundella lioyi de Gregorio, 1884
• Ostrea regula Forsskål, 1775
• Malvifundus regula

Species coming from the Red Sea by Suez Canal, expanding; sometimes very common in the Mediterranean,
Japan

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• Melongena
  melongena
  (Linné, 1758)

Crown conch,
West Indian Crown
Conch

Busycon

• carica
  (Gmelin, 1791)
  Knobbed whelk
  formerly Fulgar
  carica

• canaliculatum
  (Linnaeus, 1758)
  Channeled whelk

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• Caribbean, Bahamas

• Cape Cod southward to northern Florida and the Gulf of Mexico

• Bahamians flattenthem out with a mallet something like scaloppini, then they dredge it in flour and spices and onto a hot grill
• The muscular foot must be beaten or thinly sliced to overcome its rubberiness. With its relatives it is sold in Chinese markets, and is the main ingredient of the Italian disk scungili

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• Mesodesma
  donacinum
  (Lamarck, 1818)

Giant wedge clam,
pink clam, Fr.: Clovisse chilienne,
Sp: Almeja

• Paphies australis (Gmelin, 1791)

MOPALIIDAE: See Polyplacophoras on Page #6
Chitons

MURICIDAE
Murex Shells

• From a Conch-L source: "Mediterranean muricid snails and relatives have a salivary toxin known to cause human illness, even death, after ingestion (yet many, many people eat these shellfish without ill effects). This is murexine, which is chemically better studied than most marine biotoxins. It's very closely associated with the purple pigment of Phoenician maritime commerce, etc."
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• Bolinus brandaris
  (Linnaeus, 1758)

Purple dye murex,
Es - Cañailla;
Fr - Murex-droite épine

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• Spain: called Canadilla: It's a typical snack in the bars of Andalucia and as far as I know, the soft parts are cut into pieces and are broiled, but I am not sure. I will try and confirm this ASAP. (AMG)
• Served in olive oil with aromatic herbs

• Concholepas concholepas
  (Bruguière, J.G.,
  1792)

Barnacle Rock-shell

• Hexaplex duplex

• Hexaplex (Trunculariopsis) trunculus
  (Linnaeus, C., 1758)

Trunculus Murex

• Neothais harpa
  (Conrad T.A., 1837)

• Phyllonotus margaritensis

• Purpura aperta
  (Blainville,
  H.M.D. de, )

• Rapana bezoar

• Rapana
  giganteus

• Rapana venosa

• Siratus alabaster

• Stramonita haemastoma
  (Linne, 1758)

Red-mouthed Rock Shell

• Stramonita haemastoma
  floridana
  (Conrad, 1837)

Red-mouthed Rock Shell

• Thais chocolata

• Thais
  haemastoma

• Mya arenaria
  (Linnaeus, 1758)

Steamer, longneck, belly clam, Ipswich clam, maninose, squirt clam, fryer, gaper, common sand gaper

• Atlantic USA (main commercial sources are Maine, Cape Cod and Maryland. )
• Mediterranean
  (reported from Gulf of Lion N. Adriatic and Western Sicily)
• Greece: Saronikos Gulf

A & C

Introduced for mariculture in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.

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• Softshell is actually a misnomer for this clam as it's oval-shaped shell is actually quite thin and very brittle. Softshell clams average 1 1/2 to 3 inches in length. Their shell cannot close completely because of a protruding siphon. For this reason, softshell clams have a shorter shelf life than their closed, hardshell cousins.
• Safety Factors: Like many bivalves, softshell clams are sensitive to bacterial pollution and outbreaks of "red tide." To safeguard public health, the harvest areas are closely monitored and closed when necessary.

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• Choromitylus
  chorus

• Lithophaga
  lithophaga

• Modiolus adriaticus (Lamarck, 1819)

Adriatic horse mussel

• Modiolus modiolus

• Mytilus californianus (Conrad, 1837)

California mussel, Blue mussel

• Red Tide Warning California Mussels are edible only in the colder months (those with the letter "R" in their names), because in summer they ingest large numbers of marine organisms whose poisonous excretions in the mussels' gills can cause illness in humans

• Mytilus chilensis

• Mytilus edulis
  (Linnaeus, 1758)
  

common blue mussel

• While they grow wild, mussels are also farmed in Europe and on both coasts of North America. Maine is the largest U.S. producer, but farmed mussels from Canada's Prince Edward Island are gaining a reputation in the U.S. market.
• At one time held in low esteem, the blue mussel has become an aquaculture and culinary success story.
• Cultivated mussels are harvested at a shell size of 2 to 3 inches. They cost more than wild but are usually worth the extra price. To distinguish from wild mussels, check the shell. Farmed have thin, dark shells; wild have thicker, silvery shells.
• Blue mussels have a distinctive rich, sweet taste, like a blend of oysters and clams. Mussels should look and smell fresh and have tightly closed shells. Mussel meats, which range from white to orange, are plump and tender, but less soft than clams. Color doesn't indicate quality. Females tend to be orange when ripe (they're fine to eat and, unlike oysters, don't taste oily when about to spawn).
• Preparation & Cooking Methods: Mussels have beards, or byssus threads, which they use to anchor themselves to a growing medium. The beard should be removed just prior to cooking. Mussels are best steamed in water, wine or cream broth seasoned with herbs and garlic. Try cold, lightly marinated mussel meats served in a sauce of mayonnaise, mustard and garlic, or use cooked mussel meats in pasta salads or as an appetizer. Mussels are also great in seafood soups or stews, like cioppino or bouillabaisse.
• Safety Aspects: If a mussel's shell gapes, try to pinch it shut. If the mussel is alive, it will respond by shutting its shell tightly. If it doesn't, discard the mussel, along with any that have broken shells.
  Bags or containers of mussels should display the license number of the shipper, as required by the National Shellfish Sanitation Program. Buy only from certified growers who harvest in certified areas.
  

• Mytilus
  galloprovincialis
  (Lamarck, 1819 )

Mediterranean Mussel,
or Bay mussel

• Mytilus trossulus
  

Penn Cove Mussels

• Perna canaliculus
  

• The green mussel is native to New Zealand, which has exported it to the United States since 1979. Greenshells are farmed mussels
• They are sweet, tender, delicate, plump and juicy. Meat color varies from apricot (female) to cream (male). The color has no effect on flavor.
• The mussels grow to over 8 inches, though market size is usually 3 1/2 to 4 inches.
• Preparation & Cooking: frozen halfshells are already partially cooked. You can add a topping of your choice before "final-touch" broiling or baking. Cooking from frozen at high heat gives the best results. Live green mussels require only a little steam or heat to open 1/4 inch. After that, add a vinaigrette dressing and enjoy. Also excellent heated in Italian sauces and served with pasta. Meats are good whole or chopped in casseroles, chowders and salads, or minced in terrines, patés and quiches.
• Safety Aspects: Look for the grower's name on the mussels – a dependable sign of safety and high quality.
  Frozen, whole or halfshell mussels may be stored for 24 months. Once thawed, they should be consumed in two to three days.

• Perna perna (Linnaeus, 1758)

Brown mussel, edible brown mussel

• Other scientific names appearing in the literature of this species: Mya perna, Mytilus pictus (Born 1780), Mytilus africanus (Chemnitz 1785), Mytilus afer, (Gmelin 1791), Mytilus elongatus (Lamarck 1817), Mytilus perna, Chloromya perna, Mytilus venezolanus (Andreu 1965), Perna picta(Born), and Perna indicata Kuriakose and Nair.
• Distribution: In its natural range of the brown mussel is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the Atlantic (Siddall, 1990). In Africa, P. perna is distributed from Mozambique to the southwestern Cape, rare along the Cape west coast, and reappears in the northern Nambia-Diddo Valley, False Bay (Schurink and Griffiths, 1991). Along the Atlantic coastlines of South America from Uruguay to Caribbean areas (Acuna, 1974). The mussel is also commonly found in rocky-shored coastal regions of eastern Venezuela (Mandelli and Acuna, 1975).
  Its non-native range includes much of the Texas coast. The brown mussel is thought to have been introduced by ballast water releases from ships of Venezuela (Hicks and Tunnel, 1995). Perna perna was first reported in the Gulf of Mexico in 1990 on the Port Aransas Jetty, Texas (Hicks and Tunnell, 1993). In 1991, Hicks and Tunnell (1993) found the mussels to have dispersed 230km southward to Port Mansfield Pass, Texas. Davenport (1993) found brown mussel colonies farther south to Brazos Santiago channel in July and August of 1993. In 1995, Davenport (1995) reported the first sighting of the brown mussels in a bay environment, Port O'Connor, Texas. Within four years, P. perna colonized a distance of 1,300 km from Matagora peninsula, Texas to south Veracruz, Mexico (Hicks and Tunnell, 1995). Holland (1997)reported a 300 km gap in the distribution of Perna perna from Tecolutla to Playa Escondida, Mexico. P. perna also has been found colonizing offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico up to 9m below the surface (Hicks and Tunnell, 1995). The mussel was probably dispersed southward by long range and inshore currents.
  
• Interest to Fisheries: The edible brown mussel has been harvested in Africa and in South America. This bivalve is a good candidate for cultivation mainly because they have a rapid growth rate, reaching a commercial size of 60-80mm in 6-7 months (Chung and Acuna, 1981). The eggs and larvae of the mussel are relatively resistant and well adapted to the conditions of the tropical and subtropical regions. Also, mussels of warm waters tend to grow larger than cold water species (Schurink and Griffiths, 1993).

• Perna picta
  (Born, 1780)

African mussel

• Perna viridis

Green mussel, Japan Igai, Es. Mejillon

• Xenostrobus pulex
  (Lamarck, 1819)

Little Black Horse Mussel

• Nassarius mutabilis
  (Linnaeus, 1758)
  Mutable Nassa

• Species List: Common Names by Hardy's Internet Guide to Marine Gastropods
• A report on the "Occurance of Tetrodotoxin in the Causative Gastropod Polinices didyma and another Gastropod Natica lineata Collected from Western Taiwan"
  

• Euspira heros (Say, 1822)

Northern Atlantic Moonsnail; Common Northern Moon

• Fisheries & Oceans Canada: 1998 Eastern Nova Scotia Whelk/Moon SnailIntegrated Fishery Management Plan;Scotia Fundy Fisheries, Maritime Region
  
• Permitted as a bycatch in Atlantic Canada commercial trap fisheries for the waved whelk, Buccinum undatum.
• The are greedy predators any they eat mostly bivalves but will even eat other moon snails

• Euspira lewisii (Gould,1847)

Pacific Lewis's moon snail

Formerly: Polinices lewisii

• This is the largest moon snail in the world. Its common and scientific names honor Meriwether Lewis, who with William Clark explored the route to the Pacific in 1804-1806, and who brought back specimens of this shell from the mouth of the Columbia River.
• It has been harvested and marketed commercially on occasion, as a result of predator removal from oyster and clam aquaculture tenures.
• Lewis's moonsnails are harvested by recreational harvesters and there are bag limits in CA,WA,ORE,(USA) and B.C. (Canada)
  
• To prepare for consumption, it is important to discard the intestinal and other organs.
• Shorekeeper's Animals: molluscs in the Strait of Georgia.
• Living REEF Project's Invertebrate Monitoring Program, a companion to REEF Fish Survey Project in the Pacific Northwest.

• Lunatia fusca
  (Blainville,
  1825)
  

• Naticarius
  cruentatus

• Naticarius
  punctatus

• Neritina granosa
  (Sowerby, G.B. I,
  1825)

Hawaii: (hihiwai) Grained
Neritina

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