American Fisheries Society 167 



loss of life as a result of eating mussels reminds me that in Alaska 

 this summer I talked with a number of people on the subject of mus- 

 sels and in almost every instance they stated that they were afraid 

 of them. There seems to be a fear of eating mussels because of 

 numerous instances of loss of life. Possibly they have in mind 

 mussels which are in the regions where there are copper deposits, and 

 they steer clear of those sections; but I was wondering if there were 

 any means whereby you could definitely tell whether the mussels were 

 edible or not. 



Professor Field: Dr. Dall informs me that mussels taken from deep 

 water will not poison anyone ; only the ones that are exposed to the 

 sun between tides are dangerous. 



Mr. Bower : Then if they dig mussels at extreme low tide there is 

 no danger. 



Professor Field : No, or if you dredge for them. 



Mr. Lydell : I do not know a great deal about mussels, but last sum- 

 mer there was a party of us out camping, and when we ran short of 

 meat we went out into the lake and got a lot of freshwater mussels. 

 Of course, if we had known then what I have heard here we probably 

 would not have eaten them for fear of poison. We gathered up half 

 a bushel, took them to camp, and had them roasted. They were good 

 and enjoyed by everybody. We all partook of them, ate all we wanted, 

 and it did not hurt any of us. We thought they were very fine. The 

 saltwater mussel should be better than a freshwater mussel. 



Mr. M. C. Marsh, Washington, D. C. : I have eaten these mus- 

 sels both canned and pickled. I very much prefer the canned to the 

 pickled. But among the several people who used them that I refer to, 

 some thought the pickled were better. 



President : In view of the palatable and nutritious qualities of these 

 mussels it seems very strange indeed that they have not taken higher 

 rank as a commercial food product, and especially as food prices have 

 more than doubled in the last ten years. I would like to ask the 

 doctor how he would explain that. It seems to me there is a splendid 

 opportunity to develop what we might call the mussel fisheries. 



Professor Field : The brief reference I made to it in my paper was 

 that there has been a natural prejudice against the mussel from the 

 very first. One of the speakers mentioned the Indians as having a 

 prejudice against it, no one knowing why, and that prevented the 

 white settlers from eating them. The white settlers took to eating the 

 long clam, which is common in Europe but only used for bait. 



I think the reason why mussels have not been used more for food is 

 that they are so. abundant and spoil so quickly. 



The point which I would emphasize here is that they can be preserved 

 now so as not to injure in any way their palatable and nutritive qualities. 

 It is possible to put them up in glass and at the same time not greatly 

 increase the price, so that the consumer can buy them cheap. I am sure 

 if they were put on the market and once tried, the demand would 

 grow. Everyone I know who has used them in any way at all at home 

 has asked for more, and wished to buy them on the market; and the 



