Killing Our Servants in Their Shells

Religious texts prohibit certain religious persons from consuming shellfish and other foods, but for the rest of us who can, it’s a treat that is often expensive. Is that why we want them? Why are they so expensive? Two questions that aren’t easily answered because of the variables involved. Yeah, I know, don’t talk to you about variables. How about factors or profit margins, would those be acceptable to you?

For now, let me stick to the scientist in me as well as the gourmand (yup, not exactly a gourmet) and look at some interesting things that have cropped up in terms of our little bits of delight, shellfish. Specifically, I’m referring to a select group that I’m restricting to oysters, clams and mussels.

The group of three to which I refer are called “filter feeders” because, via a valve system in their bodies, they take in nutrient-filled water and then expel it cleaned out through another valve system. These little gems literally clean up our waterways wherever they can find a spot that suits them or where we have placed them and they are, as one expert said, the “canaries in the waterways.” Much like those caged birds that miners took down into the coal shafts, these bivalves (two shelled) let us know when the system is in trouble or danger.

New York City was once a thriving hub of oyster production and the waters in the…