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Hi Zooarch Replies to particular points you raise In message <[log in to unmask] k>, Amanda Kear <[log in to unmask]> writes >Hi Nicky >Just to add a complication or two... Dogwhelks seem to be the preferred >shells for small hermit crabs to inhabit round my home town (Arbroath in NE >Scotland), despite the greater availability of Littorina shells. Are hermit >crabs edible? I haven't eaten them but I cannot see why not. If you can get the animal out of its shell, breaking shell carefully, there is a soft body behind the anterior armour which I GUESS might be similar to shrimp or prawn flesh. However most, but not all, hermit crabs I see, live in beaten up old shells, or shells which are less than fresh. My experience of dog whelks in marine shell assemblages where they occur as more than one or two individuals is that EITHER the shells tend to be in very good condition and have every appearance of having been collected alive OR they are shells with an oblique fracture across the body such that the apical region of the shell is missing. In some assemblages, you get the basal body whorl fragment and the apices in the same deposit. Interpretation of that characteristic fracture style opens up a whole new debate... > >And dogwhelks can get snared by byssus threads in mussel beds, so you might >expect a few stray dogwhelk shells if you are collecting Mytilus. But that >doesn't sound likely from the high proportion in your assemblage. I have just worked on an assemblage of Mytilus, Patella and Nucella. Overall the Nucella account for 2 per cent of the shells by number. I agree that since Nucella live in amongst (and prey on) the Mytilus they could be a bycatch element. However, see my reply to Nicky about edibility...... cheers Jan > >Cheers >Amanda Kear >BBC Natural History Unit >Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2LR, UK >tel +44 117 9732211 (switchboard) xt 42764 >fax +44 117 9237708 >email [log in to unmask] > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Nicky Milner [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] >> Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2001 1:02 PM >> To: [log in to unmask] >> Subject: dogwhelks >> >> I've just gone through a Meso assemblage from a site we're digging up >> in Northumberland. Dogwhelks make up 71% of the current assemblage. >> The other species on the whole are small and or colourful (such as >> flat periwinkles, cowries, topshell) but there are a few edible and >> rough periwinkles and a few limpets. As one of the cowries appears to >> be perforated as well I think that most of the shells are being >> collected for aesthetics rather than food but I'm just wondering >> whether anyone has any experience of, or knows any references >> regarding eating the dogwhelk, Nucella lapillus? This seems to be a >> problem frequently encountered when dealing with shell assemblages >> and there are many other sites where this species can be found in >> substantial numbers. I know it can be used for dye but I think you >> would expect to find the shell crushed if this was the case. The only >> things I have read or heard about the dogwhelk regarding consumption >> is that they are completely unpalatable and even fish won't take them >> as bait. >> Jim, perhaps you'd have another look in Mrs Beeton for me?! >> >> Nicky >> Dr Nicky Milner >> Sir James Knott Research Fellow >> Dept. of Archaeology >> University of Newcastle >> Newcastle-upon-Tyne >> NE1 7RU >> 0191 222 5754 (office) > > >This e-mail, and any attachment, is confidential. If you have received >it in error, please delete it from your system, do not use or disclose >the information in any way, and notify me immediately. The contents of >this message may contain personal views which are not the views of the >BBC, unless specifically stated. -- Janice Light 88 Peperharow Road Godalming Surrey GU7 2PN, UK Tel: +44 (0)1483 417782 Mob: 0973 322681 email: [log in to unmask] Carbonate Group, Dept of Geology Royal Holloway University of London Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK email: [log in to unmask]