Dear Bob,

Please check the two works below. They list the
species of gastropods (and bivalves) most likely
to be consumed as food along the coasts and
islands of the "Central Western Atlantic", i.e.,
between Hatteras and Venezuela. Sizes and general
features of the different species are discussed
therein. Please send a note in case you have any questions about the lists.

Leal, J. H. 2002. Gastropods. In: K. E. Carpenter
(editor) The Living Marine Resources of the
Western Central Atlantic. Volume 1. Introduction,
mollusks, crustaceans, hagfishes, sharks, batoid
fishes and chimaeras. FAO Identification Guide
for Fishery Purposes. The Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, Rome, pp. 99–147
http://shellmuseum.org/GastropodsLeal.pdf

Leal, J. H. 2002. Bivalves. In: K. E. Carpenter
(editor) The Living Marine Resources of the
Western Central Atlantic. Volume 1. Introduction,
mollusks, crustaceans, hagfishes, sharks, batoid
fishes and chimaeras. FAO Identification Guide
for Fishery Purposes. The Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, Rome, pp. 25–98
http://shellmuseum.org/BivalvesLeal.pdf

Cordially,

José
_________________________________________________________________________
José H. Leal, Ph.D., Director
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
Editor, The Nautilus
www.shellmuseum.org

3075 Sanibel-Captiva Road
Sanibel, FL 33957 USA
(239)395-2233
fax (239)395-6706

At 12:37 PM 05/08/06, you wrote:
>I am a forensic scientist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlive Service, and I am
>new to the list.  Recently I've had an increasing number of requests to
>test commercial shipments of "conch meat" for species origin, to either
>confirm or refute the species information on import permits.  We are
>particularly interested in the identification of the protected species
>Strombus gigas, the queen conch.
>
>I have two requests for the readers of this list:
>
>1)Can anyone suggest a list of gastropod species which are edible and which
>grow large enough to be superficially confused with S. gigas?  I'd also
>like to find information on the phylogenetic relationships among these
>species.
>
>2) Can anyone suggest where I might obtain verified tissue samples for DNA
>analysis from a variety of conch and whelk species?.  Identifying an
>unknown tissue sample relies on a phylogenetic analysis of more/less
>closely related species, and not enough DNA sequence information of
>relevant gastropod species is in the literature.
>
>This information will, hopefully, help in the enforcement of conservation
>laws aimed at protecting threatened species such as the queen conch.
>
>Bob Hoesch
>U.S. Fish & Wildlife Forensic Laboratory
>Ashland, OR
>
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