I can't believe I stumped the entire list with my 3 questions. Not one
person responded. Must have just been that I was asking during the weekend.
(And they are culinary).

1) Is there any way of preparing the meat from Busycon carica so that it's
not tough?

2) Is there a website for health advisories on clams/shellfish in
particular localities?

3) (This is not molluscan but...) The morning after boiling lobster in a
pot, there are distinct snapping sounds from the pot (with water
remaining). Is this the ghost of lobsters past? Or some reaction of lobster
broth with (I believe) an aluminum pot?

There's a local, probably still small-scale industry around the harvest of
Spondylus calcifer in the Gulf of California. When I was there in 1977, the
campground keeper took me in his boat with an air-compressor and dove for
these. After we came up to the boat, he sliced open one and gave me the
large adductor muscle, thoughtfully providing me with half a lemon. SWEET
and TENDER! One of the most memorable mollusk encounters in the wild.

David Kirsh
Durham, NC