Quahog

From Freepedia

Quahogs (pronounced "KO-hog", IPA /kohɑɡ/, "kwag", or "kwa-HOG", IPA /kwɑhɑɡ/), mercenaria mercenaria or venus mercenaria, are also called hard-shell clams, and by terms referring to different sizes from smallest to largest, "littlenecks", "cherrystones", "quahogs", and "chowders". The Quahog takes its name from the Narragansett Indian word "poquauhock" (the word is similar in Wampanoag and some other Algonquin languages), and as New England Indians made valuable beads called wampum from the shells (especially the purple color), the scientific name Mercenaria mercenaria is related to the Latin word for "money".

Quahogs are salt-water mollusks that thrive in salt concentrations of 18-26 ppt, which is less salty than open ocean salinity of 35 ppt, and thus thrive in less-salty tidal estuaries and bays. They have a "foot" they use to dig themselves into the sand and mud, and they are filter feeders, and are susceptible to concentrating human toxins if the toxins are present in their environment (especially, see Red tide, and more commonly coliform bacteria).

They are quite common throughout New England, north into Canada, and all down the Eastern seaboard to Florida, but are particularly abundant between Cape Cod and New Jersey where seeding and harvesting them is an important commercial seafood industry. Tiny Rhode Island, situated right in the middle of "quahog country", has supplied a quarter of the nation's total annual commercial quahog catch, and the quahog shell is the Rhode Island state shell. The species has also been introduced and is farmed on the Pacific coast and in Great Britain and Europe.

Restaurants known as raw bars specialize in serving cherrystones served raw on an opened half-shell, usually with a cocktail sauce with horseradish, and often with lemon. Sometimes, quahogs are steamed and dipped in butter, though not as commonly as their soft-shelled clam cousin, the "steamer". Littlenecks are often found in-the-shell in soups, stews, "Clams casino", or substituted for European varieties such as the cockle in southern european seafood dishes. The largest chowders with the toughest meat are used for flavor in more processed forms including the traditional clam chowder and stuffed clam.

The Quahog achieved prominence in popular culture in the animated television show Family Guy, which takes place in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island, which was named after this legendary clam.