Dear All,

In April, 1987 I read an account in a Kotakinabalu (insular Malaysia)
newspaper of a family who ate an unspecified number of an Oliva species
harvested from shallow N. W. Borneo waters and became ill as a result.  At
least one fatality was attributed to poisoning.  The report sounded quite
authoritative.  I doubt that this was paralytic shellfish poisoning
(dinoflagellate contamination).

There is a substance called "saxitoxin" which accounts for human illness
following the consumption of certain Neptunea species occurring in Japanese
waters.  It is localized in the salivary glands of these snails.

Likewise, 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.

Also the Mediterranean sea hare has been incriminated in human poisoning
since Pliny's report in the first century A. D.  Again, the toxin is
associated with the salivary apparatus and probably is important in predation.

Abalone viscera, at least in Japan, have caused human illness after ingestion.

I guess the best strategy for the human molluscivore is to leave snail
viscera on the plate if there is any question as to safety.  I, for one,
have eaten dozens of marine snail species but never felt the slightest urge
to eat any parts but the mantle and foot.

At 05:26 PM 4/12/00 -0400, you wrote:
>I'd heard that olives were toxic. No?

Harry G. Lee
Suite 500
1801 Barrs St.
Jacksonville, FL 32204
USA   904-384-6419
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Visit the Jacksonville Shell Club Home Page at:
http://home.sprynet.com/~wfrank/jacksonv.htm

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