Look closely at the action.
Clams. Coquinas. On the prowl.
In August you can find them on Cape May beaches, thousands upon thousands of them.
Get enough of them you can boil them up, strain out the shells, add some potatoes, onions, and cream to taste, and have a tasty tiny clam feast! It sounds delicious, and in February I dream of making it--last week I had the chance.
And I did not.
I have enough trouble thinking about my sessile quahogs as I toss them into the boiling water. To kill thousands of their smaller active cousins, though, was too much for me last week.
It may not matter much to an individual coquina that it has been plucked from the edge of the surf, only to end up in boiling water. I have no way to tell, and they certainly don't squawk too much when I pick them up.
Does the scale of the slaughter matter when dealing with mollusks?
(Or did I just need an excuse to show a live action shot of coquinas....?)
Video by Chris Griffiths, used with permission.
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4 comments:
just came over to catch up, I have been glad some doctors did not leave to become teachers... Lyme disease finally entered my system and I have been a bit of a mental and physical slug... some time in the midst of I told my supervisor I would teach physics and zoology this year. I need to get through summer school so I can take on the ramifications of that statement ;')
Dear Wayne,
First, get better!
Second, and I need to be very careful how I word this since I no longer practice medicine, and don't plan to here, do yourself a huge favor if you're not bouncing back quickly.
Lyme disease is cause by a spirochete, and it is quite sensitive to amoxicillin. I am fully aware of the cohort of patients who insist they are chronically infected, having practiced in Jersey, the epicenter of Lyme disease.
Look up Gene Eskow, M.D.--he was a classmate of mine, and a good one.
Some of his patients were still sick after treatment, but he did not blow them off--the symptoms were real. He looked at co-infections; if you're bitten by a tick, Lyme's is not the only disease you can get.
So I am explicitly not advising anything medical, but I am suggesting you look around if you're not better. Ask your doctor about babesiosis. Ask her about co-infection.
Ahem. Just sound advice from a school teacher. Really.
thanks for the non-medical advice. I clearly lack the symptoms of babesiosis (thank God). I fled to my doctor (far from typical Wayne behavior) as soon as I saw the rash, and he instantly put me on antibiotics. That was 19 days ago, and I am feeling more energetic for the last two... I think that is a good thing. Thanks for the concern for my well being. and yes, I will take the meds till they are all gone and pay attention to how I am feeling. I have taught about the evolution of resistant bacteria. ;')
Dear Wayne,
Thankfully, spirochetes missed the evolutionary antibiotic resistant bus.
Glad you're returning to the well. Let me know if anything seems amiss--I'll send you to Gene.
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