Dear Peter, Rich,

I remember the article about the drying sea as well, but also remember very
well that it was about the ARAL Sea (another inland sea), not the Caspian
Sea. I had a look what Google has to say about the subject, and it seems
the water level in the Caspian Sea has risen dramatically since 1978, which
has also led to problems. Certainly, there are environmental problems, too.
Pollution from oil wells seems to be the main problem, as well as
overfishing. The major fish species caught is the sturgeon (from which
caviar is extracted). (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/caspenv.html).
There seem to be plenty of other fishes around as well
(http://medlem.spray.se/davidgorgan/fishes.html), there even appears to be
a seal species (http://medlem.spray.se/davidgorgan/Caspiansea.html).
It seems though that the water is not really salty enough for truly marine
molluscs. One of the sites above refers to it as a lake, so I expect all we
can expect to find in that way are the brown and small variety such as the
ones that inhabit rivers

Patty