272 



CIVIC BIOLOGY 



Sea mussels. These most abundant mollusks of our coasts 

 might supply the soup and fish courses for every dinner in 

 North America without strain upon their reproductive pos- 

 sibilities. How many have ever heard of them ? How many 

 have tasted them in prime condition, or even at all ? Some 

 may have heard from irresponsible sources that sea mussels 

 are poisonous. So are oysters or clams that are taken from 

 sewage-polluted waters or that are dead and half decayed; and 



stale lobsters, crabs, 

 chicken, veal, and even 

 milk may be poisonous. 

 '" Mussels taken from 

 pure water which has 

 free circulation have 

 never been known to 

 produce injurious ef- 

 fects. A New York 

 dealer who has been 

 selling mussels for 

 years has never known 

 of a case of poisoning 

 from them. Neverthe- 

 less, too much emphasis cannot be laid on the fact that care 

 must be exercised in choosing proper localities for the culti- 

 vation and collection of mussels for market. They must be 

 sold to the consumer in a perfectly fresh condition or serious 

 results will be likely to follow.'* 1 



It would be an interesting problem for any community 

 unit to figure out its aquatic resources and possibilities, ana- 

 lyze the different elements, and estimate the percentage of 

 present utilization. For the United States as a whole this 

 is roughly attempted in the following table. 



1 Irving A. Field, f < Food Value of Sea Mussels," Bulletin No. 743 of the 

 United States Bureau of Fisheries, 1911, p. 125. 



FIG. 123. Cleaning sea mussels commercially 

 Photograph by I. A. Field 



