Texas Seafood by PJ Stoops

Author:PJ Stoops [Stoops, PJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2019-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

RANGE/DISTRIBUTION: The Lightning Whelk ranges from the Gulf of Mexico and western mid-Atlantic up through the Carolinas.

DESCRIPTION: If you were to conjure up images for the word “seashell,” the whelk might be one of the first images to cross your mind. The knobby shell has a short spire and a large whorl, all radiating (in a beautiful illustration of the golden ratio) from a central point, the tip of the spire. The spiral terminates in a large aperture (the opening of the shell), the outer lip of which curls back only slightly. The narrow bottom tip of the shell, the siphon canal, is elongated and well developed. When the animal is alive, the shell is yellow to purple to maroon to light brown, with darker or lighter bands or splotches. The outer lip and siphon canal are yellow to gold to pink to brown to purple, fading to snow white farther inside the shell. Like all whelks (and most snails), the Lightning is equipped with a bony plate, the operculum, that attaches to the foot and is used to seal up the shell after the animal has retracted completely.

If you should see a living Lightning Whelk in situ on the bay floor, you might be surprised at the size of the soft body. When the snail is moving or feeding (it is a highly carnivorous animal), its soft tissue fills with water and swells so much it seems impossible that all of that fluffy flesh could fit into the small hard shell to which it is attached. Pick that whelk up and turn it over, and you will see how it all works. Basically, it will appear as if the whelk is urinating on you. After getting rid of the excess water, the body is a fraction of the size and as firm as a boot. Its body, with the long siphon (which it uses both to breathe by pulling water over internal gills and to smell out prey), will retract completely into the shell, which it seals up entirely.

A few other closely related species share the same waters with the Lightning Whelk. They all look similar, but as the Lightning Whelk is by far the most commonly encountered, we only cover that species. However, all are edible and legal for the taking. These other species are the Pear Whelk (Busycotypus spiratus), Shouldered Pear Whelk (Busycotypus plagosus), and Splendid Whelk (Busycon candelabrum). We shall not waste words describing the differences in appearances between these latter three species, as they are small and insignificant; all three together, however, share one characteristic that easily differentiates them from the Lightning Whelk. They are right-handed, whereas the Lightning Whelk is left-handed. No, none of these snails (or for that matter any snails in the world) have hands. Handedness in snails refers to which way the aperture points, and most snails, evidently, are right-handed.

All whelks are carnivores, preying on oysters, clams, mussels, other snails, crabs, and detritus. They are slow but determined and deadly hunters—essentially

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