Beat The Butcher At The Beach Part II

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The best pickin's for whelk are found on the East Coast from Newfoundland to Florida and westward around the Gulf of Mexico to the tip of Texas. Look for the three- to four-inch-long waved whelk (Bucclnum undatum) along the upper East Coast south to the Carolinas, the 12-inch-long knobbed whelk (Busycon carlcal and six-inch-orlonger channeled whelk (Busycon canaliculatum) just off sandy shores from southern New England to Florida, the six- to nineinch lefthanded whelksometimes called the lightning whelk(Busycon contrarlum) south from Cape Hatteras, and the three- to fiveinch-long pear conch (Busycon splratum) from Hatteras around the tip of Florida and westward to Texas.

If you're a scuba diver, you can probably find all the whelks you'll ever want any time you want 'em by checking the bottom of the water 12 to 18 feet down off any sandy beach that contains a few washed-up whelk shells. Or just walk along the shore after any heavy storm and pick up the gastropods (inspect each one to make sure it's fresh and alive) that wash onto land by the bushel. Or-since these mollusks are carnivorous (eat meat)-you can make a deal with the commercial fishermen who frequently find whelks stealing bait from their crab and lobster traps (most such fishermen are overjoyed to find someone who'll take the little blighters off their hands).

Whelks are frequently broken open with a hammer and the fleshy foot (the edible part) cut out, pounded or rolled, seasoned, and fried to a light brown. The foot can also be ground into "hamburger", or diced and pickled.

The gastropods are pickled by boiling a pailful of the whelks in heavily salted water until they can be slipped from their shells with a pin or nutpick. Discard the viscera above each mollusk's foot and pull or slice off the operculum (horny plate that closes the shell). Then place one packet of commercially available crab-boil spice and three bayberry leaves in the bottom of a quart jar and loosely pack the container with alternating layers of cleaned whelks and finely sliced onions. Finally, fill the jar with boiling vinegar, seal, and allow the meat to soak for at least a few days. Delicious!

Once you've discovered how good (even if, sometimes, a little rubbery) whelks can be, you'll probably be encouraged to go after moon shells (sort of mini-whelks) too. Look for the Lewis moon shell (Lunatia lewlsl)--a grayishbrown five-incher-on sandy bottoms from British Columbia to Mexico . . . the one- to three-inch-long Recluz's moon shell (Polinices recluslanus) from California to Mexico ... the northern moon (Lunatla heros) from Newfoundland to the Carolinas . . . and the shark eye (Polinlces duplicatus) from Cape Cod to Texas.

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