Hi - 
About Busycon as a food source,
Actually it's quite tasty if you like gastropods and cook them right (I've used olive oil, garlic, white wine, a bit of lime juice, etc - a good alternative to calamari in when I make pasta sauce).  Personally I like marine snails much better than Escargot.  The Busycon that they were fishing in Delaware Bay used to even be for sale in our local supermarket in Tonawanda, NY, marketed as Scungilli (conch) even though the label does indicate what they are and that they were canned in Cape May, NJ.  Haven't seen them for sale up here for a couple years (been checking) - have to now settle for cans of Trophon from Chile that they sell as conch at one of the local gourmet supermarkets (not expensive for a good size can, even though their shells are quite pricey at shows).  I did keep one of the Busycon Scungilli cans (opened it on the bottom to get dinner out) - keep it next to the specimens in my collection as just another good story for visitors.
- Rick

________________________________

From: Conchologists List on behalf of Deborah Duval
Sent: Wed 4/23/2008 9:02 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Erato-mania on a NC beach



Sue--

At the risk of appearing to be an idiot, why do they fish Busycon?  Is it a food source?  I can't imagine eating our Busycon species, and in Louisiana, where we eat anything that moves, that's going pretty far!

Debbie

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