which species is poisonous ? in fact, It doesn't matter which specie is poisonous, almost all of the mollusks can be poisonous, what we should ask is : where and when they are poisonous ? In the winter of 1987, i was a university student in Shanghai. it is near the Chinese biggest festival ,spring festival, a infectious disease broke out. No enough doctors, no enough beds in hospital, no enough medicals. I rebreed till today, the stadium of our school was used to set many beds for sick people. 3 months later , the infectious disease was controlled . the government said there were 300000 people infected. the reason was discovered. people in Shanghai like to eat raw Scapharcas. Scientist said the scapharcas from polluted area are all with hepatitis virus in the flesh. From 1988 spring, selling scapharcas is illegal, any one sell these species will be penalty. But before 1988, the scapharcas has been on the table of Shanghai people for hundreds of years a new story comes these days. about 150 people was sent to hospital in Beijing, because they ate some freshwater mollusks. they ate raw mollusks. He Jing www.shellsfromchina.com [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs To leave this list, click on the following web link: http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1 Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and click leave the list. ----------------------------------------------------------------------