I laughed at the Conus spoof too. (Helmut did too, eventually: "Sawing
down" rare mollusks to fit the cabinets? A good riposte.) But it does bring
up a good question. If you find "countless" live specimens of one species
on the seafloor, how many can one person feel justified in collecting?
 
OK, let's say that you're a dealer. How many can you collect now?
 
Now let's say that the mollusks are all dead. How many now?
 
And now let's say that the mollusks are fossils. How many would it be
reasonable to collect?
 
If your answers are different in each case, or if you answer "Well, it
depends...", then you know that the question in the subject line cannot be
as simple as it looks.
 
Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama