I just got back from the Bahamas, where we went conching. During the process of separating the animals from their shells, our Bahamian guide pulled out a clear stringy thing he called the "pistil" [my spelling], which he dipped in sea water and ate. He says it's a tradition, so of course I ate one too. I'm trying to find out what part of the animal it was. I've searched a lot of 'net sites, and I can't find any detailed anatomy of conches. Also, can anyone recommend a good resource for identifying the species of conch I got? I still have the shell, but I know that getting a genus and species is a long shot. Thanks. Peter