'Ugly' snails, once ignored by fishermen, now a prized catch
The sea snails known by Italian-Americans as scungilli used to be such a niche market that fishermen ignored them when they turned up in lobster traps or oyster dredges.
[...] they're a prized commodity.
Because of growing demand in Asia and the collapse of other industries, such as lobster, fishermen searching for something else to catch are keeping and selling the big marine snails.
A voracious predator, it crawls along the bottom of Atlantic coastal inlets from Nantucket Sound to North Carolina's Outer Banks, piercing its razor-edged proboscis into clams and other prey.
Baited by dogfish meat and horseshoe crabs, the snails crawl into traps left about 10-feet deep on the muddy sea floor.
The old-school Italian restaurants that serve sea snail salad — a popular Christmastime dish — usually get it canned from a handful of specialty processors.