Crook Point Bascule Bridge
The Crook Point Bascule Bridge is a defunct Scherzer rolling lift railway bridge which spans the Seekonk River, connecting the city of Providence, Rhode Island, to the city of East Providence. Stuck in the open position since its abandonment in 1976, it is known to nearby residents as the "Stuck-Up Bridge" and has become somewhat of a local icon of urban decay. Part of the East Side Railroad Tunnel project, the Crook Point Bascule Bridge was built in 1908 to provide a direct connection to the old Union Station along the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad line, it was designed by Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company of Chicago and measures 850 feet across, raises to a 64 degree angle, opens a clear waterway 125 feet wide. When railroad usage declined in the 1970s and plans were made to demolish Union Station, the East Side Railroad Tunnel and the Seekonk River Drawbridge were subsequently abandoned in 1976 with the bridge fixed in its current open position to allow river transit. Since its abandonment, the bridge has been a target of graffiti and artistic and archaeological interest.
The western entrance to the bridge is accessible from a dirt path off of an athletic field near the intersection of Gano and Williams streets. Some wooden components of the tracks have rotted or burnt away, various electrical cables have been disconnected, but the metal structure remains intact, albeit rusted; this combination of factors attracts various types of visitors to venture out onto the tracks and climb up the drawbridge, despite dangerous conditions. Students from nearby colleges have produced photography projects and studies featuring the bridge. One study by a Brown University archaeology student suggests that the bridge has functioned as a center of athletic initiation, punk counterculture gathering, suicide since 1976. In 2003, Brown graduate Robert Manchester proposed a $30-million plan calling for the development of Crook Point, which includes the eastern landing of the bridge. Featured in his proposal were plans to reopen the bridge and tunnel as a light rail system, bringing commuters from East Providence to Thayer Street and downtown Providence.
In May 2006, Mayor David Cicilline organized Transit 2020, an advisory group determined to find alternative transit solutions for Providence in order to overcome some limitations of RIPTA, on which it depends heavily. Included in Transit 2020's first report was an analysis describing the East Side Railroad Tunnel and Seekonk River Bridge line as a potential corridor for a light rail or bus rapid transit system. India Point Railroad Bridge Sakonnet River rail bridge 360-degree Interactive Panorama Rhode Island Art In Ruins: Seekonk River Bridge Urbanism in the Archaeological Record Transit2020.com Bridge video Another article about the bridge
East Providence, Rhode Island
East Providence is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 47,037 at the 2010 census. East Providence is located at 41°48′5″N 71°21′39″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 16.6 square miles, of which, 13.4 square miles of it is land and 3.2 square miles of it is water. The following villages are located in East Providence: East Providence Center Riverside RumfordThe Mayor is Roberto "Bob" DaSilva. In 1641, the Plymouth Colony purchased from the Indians a large tract of land which today includes the northern half of East Providence, Massachusetts, Seekonk and part of Pawtucket. Four years John Brown of Plymouth bought a smaller piece of land from the Indians, which today comprises the southern part of East Providence, a small part of Swansea. In 1661, Plymouth completed the "North Purchase" from which Attleboro, North Attleboro, Cumberland were formed. Over the whole the authorities gave the name'Rehoboth'; the center of this large settlement, sometimes referred to as'Old Rehoboth', is within the borders of modern East Providence.
In 1812, the western half of Old Rehoboth was set off as a separate township called Seekonk, Massachusetts. Old Rehoboth's town center now became the heart of Old Seekonk. In 1862, the western part of Old Seekonk was ceded to Rhode Island and incorporated as East Providence. Beginning around 1900 and continuing until the onset of the Depression in 1930, large numbers of Portuguese from Providence, Fall River, New Bedford, Portugal settled in East Providence. By 1905, there were over 400 Portuguese in the third highest in the state; the Portuguese, like other ethnic groups, were drawn to East Providence by the lure of jobs. Many employment opportunities were available in the Watchemoket area, where numerous immigrants settled. In decades preceding the Civil War, Watchemoket Point was little more than a farming and fishing area with a few hundred residents. Watchemoket was situated directly across from the thriving city of Providence and thus benefited from the expansion of that community. More two bridges across the Seekonk River gave easy access to Watchmemoket.
By the 1860s, tolls were no longer being charged to cross the Washington and Central Bridges, giving further stimulus to the growth of Watchemoket and the transformation of the village from a sleepy fishing area to the vital core of East Providence in 1862. The first businesses to come to Watchemoket were inns built to service the large numbers of people coming through; the residents of Watchemoket had their own library by the early 1870s. At first the organizers named it Ladies Library Association, but in 1885 they changed the named to Watchemoket Free Public Library; the commercial and population center of East Providence, by the mid-1880s, Watchemoket next became the political center as well. The town hall was moved from Rumford to the heart of the community, so it was more accessible, they purchased a lot on Taunton Avenue for $11,500 and erected a two-story brick building which opened in 1889. That same year the East Providence Police Department opened its headquarters in the town hall. For some time after the incorporation of the town in 1862, the area around the old "Ring of the Green" was referred to as East Providence Center.
The official town hall was located here until 1889. Moreover, the village was the population center of East Providence, containing many farms and mills along the Ten Mile River. Many people migrated from East Providence Center to the new center at Watchemoket. From the time of the Wannamoisett purchase in 1645 to the Civil War, the shore land from Watchemoket to Bullocks Point had remained a sparsely settled fishing and farming area; when East Providence was incorporated, no more than a few hundred of its residents made the coastal village their home. The white settlers had first learned of the plentiful supply of shellfish in the area from the Wampanoag Indians. More than two centuries the waters of Narragansett Bay, which washed the shores of Wannamoisett, still contained an abundant supply of edible sea treasures. Clams and oysters were harvested by Wannamoisett residents and sold in Providence. Arnold Medberry, for instance, brought his plow to the shoreline and began picking up clams by the handful.
He loaded the shellfish on a cart and sold his entire day's catch in Providence. At that time and his neighbors were referred to as "clamdiggers", a derogatory term comparable to the pejorative hayseed. By the early nineteenth century, individuals had begun to build summer homes, causing the population to double to about 500-600. During that time period, Cedar Grove, Lewis Station, Chimney Corners, Peck's Corner, Pleasant Bluffs, Sabin's Point, Sherman's Station, Pomham were developed. New resort facilities were built, such as the Pomham House. Numbers of roads were lined with trees and houses, Christian Churches were formed, a library was built, the Narragansett Engine Company was formed in 1878. By that time, the residents were no longer regarded as townspeople. While many transactions were taking place, Charles I. D. Looff came to Riverside, he was a wood carver for a furniture business in New York, spent spare time in his basement carving wooden horses as a hobby. After long years of hard work, he produced the first steam powered carousel and sold it to Crescent Park.
He designed a summer recreation area. By the early 1900s, New Englanders recogni
U.S. Route 6 in Rhode Island
U. S. Route 6 is a major east–west road in the U. S. state of Rhode Island. Nationally, the route continues west to Bishop and east to Provincetown, Massachusetts. In western Rhode Island, it forms part of one of several routes between Hartford and Providence, Rhode Island, was planned to be replaced by Interstate 895; the part of I-895, built, from Interstate 895 to Olneyville, is now part of US 6. At Olneyville, US 6 joins Route 10 and heads east towards downtown Providence, where it turns south on Interstate 95 and east on Interstate 195. US 6 splits from I-195 in East Providence; the whole route of US 6 is a state highway maintained by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. US 6 crosses from Killingly, Connecticut into Foster, Rhode Island just east of the end of the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike known as the Connecticut Turnpike; that part of US 6 was once the Scituate Turnpike, now called the Danielson Pike. It crosses Route 94 in Foster before crossing into Scituate. Soon after entering Scituate, US 6 splits into business alignments.
The business alignment runs further south along the old turnpike, is signed as US 6 without a banner. The bypass is signed as BY-PASS US 6 on sign assemblies but as bannerless US 6 on green guide signs. Most maps and information takes US 6 along the bypass; the business and bypass cross Route 102 soon after splitting. The western half of the bypass is a two-lane limited access road, with one grade separation — under Gleaner Chapel Road — and one intersection — at Route 102; this newer section ends as it merges with Route 101, once the Rhode Island and Connecticut Turnpike, now called Hartford Pike. The two parallel alignments cross the Scituate Reservoir and Route 116 before they merge near the east edge of Scituate; this merge was the east end of the Foster and Scituate Turnpike, was the east end of Route 101 until the early 2000s. Soon after the bypass and business routes merge, US 6 enters Johnston. Several miles it intersects with Interstate 295. From I-295 to Olneyville, the old road — Hartford Avenue — is now U.
S. Route 6A, as US 6 uses the Dennis J. Roberts Expressway. To get there, it turns south on the I-295 collector/distributor roads to the west end of that freeway; the south interchange of US 6 and I-295 has numerous ramp stubs once intended for a western continuation of the Roberts Expressway as Interstate 84. The six-lane Roberts Expressway has interchanges with Route 5, U. S. Route 6A, Route 128, US 6A again on its way to Olneyville, it crosses from Johnston into Providence just west of the bridge over Route 128. At the second US 6A interchange, the older Olneyville Bypass begins, the freeway reduces to four lanes. Heading around Olneyville to the south and east, US 6 has partial interchanges with Route 14, Route 10 and Broadway before merging with Route 10 towards downtown Providence on the Route 6-10 Connector. Along the Connector is an interchange with Dean Street before it ends at Interstate 95, with ramps to Memorial Boulevard for downtown access. US 6 turns south there with I-95. US 6 soon leaves I-95 for Interstate 195.
U. S. Route 1A and U. S. Route 44 join after it crosses the Providence River, the four routes head east across the Washington Bridge over the Seekonk River. Upon crossing the Washington Bridge, US 6 enters East Providence. US 44 leaves onto Taunton Avenue at the east end of the bridge, Route 103 - the old alignment of US 6 - begins on Warren Avenue. After interchanges with Broadway and Pawtucket Avenue — the latter carrying Route 114 in both directions and U. S. Route 1A to the north — US 6 splits from I-195 at the interchange with the East Shore Expressway, it takes the ramps towards Warren Avenue, which it uses most of the way to the state line before heading southeast on Highland Avenue to cross into Seekonk, Massachusetts. In Rhode Island, US 6 was Route 3 of the New England Interstate Routes, designated in 1922; the part of Route 3 in Rhode Island ran how US 6 does now. By the time Route 3 became U. S. Route 6 in late 1926, it had been moved to use Waterman Avenue through East Providence to Massachusetts.
Waterman Street in Providence had become one-way eastbound by 1930. At some point by 1929, US 6 had moved from the Red Bridge to the Washington Bridge. In downtown Providence, it turned south on Main Street and east on Fox Point Boulevard to reach the bridge, taking Taunton Avenue into Massachusetts. US 6 was realigned to bypass downtown to the south via the Point Street Bridge by 1942, it came along Westminster Street from Olneyville, turning southeast on Winter Street and Lockwood Street. A short one-way pair on Lockwood Street and F
Loon
The loons or divers are a group of aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of family Gaviidae and order Gaviiformes. Loons, which are the size of a large duck or a small goose, resemble these birds in shape when swimming. Like ducks and geese, but unlike coots and grebes, the loon's toes are connected by webbing; the loons may be confused with the cormorants, which are not too distant relatives of divers, like them are heavy-set birds whose bellies, unlike those of ducks and geese, are submerged when swimming. Loons in flight resemble plump geese with seagulls' wings that are small in proportion to their bulky bodies; the bird points its head upwards while swimming, but less so than cormorants. In flight, the head droops more than in similar aquatic birds. Male and female loons have identical plumage, patterned black-and-white in summer, with grey on the head and neck in some species. All have a white belly; this resembles many sea-ducks – notably the smaller goldeneyes – but is distinct from most cormorants, which have white feathers, if so as large rounded patches rather than delicate patterns.
All species of divers have a spear-shaped bill. Males are larger on average, but relative size is only apparent when the male and female are together. In winter, plumage is dark grey above, with some indistinct lighter mottling on the wings, a white chin and underside; the specific species can be distinguished by certain features, such as the size and colour of the head, neck and bill. But reliable identification of wintering divers is difficult for experts – as the smaller immature birds look similar to winter-plumage adults, making size an unreliable means of identification. Gaviiformes are among the few groups of birds in which the young moult into a second coat of down feathers after shedding the first one, rather than growing juvenile feathers with downy tips that wear off, as is typical in many birds; this trait is found in tubenoses and penguins, both relatives of the loons. Loons are excellent swimmers, using their feet to propel themselves under water. However, since their feet are located posteriorly on the body, loons have difficulty walking on land.
Thus, loons avoid coming to land, except when nesting or injured. Loons fly though they have high wing-loading, which complicates takeoff. Indeed, most species must run upwind across the water's surface with wings flapping to generate sufficient lift to take flight. Only the red-throated loon can take off from land. Once airborne, loons are capable of long flights during migration. Scientists from the U. S. Geological Survey, who have implanted satellite transmitters in some individuals, have recorded daily flights of up to 1078 km in a 24-hour period, which resulted from single movements. North European loons migrate via the South Baltic and directly over land to the Black Sea or Mediterranean. Loons can live as long as 30 years and can hold their breath for as long as 90 seconds while underwater. Loons find their prey by sight, they eat fish, supplemented with amphibians and similar mid-sized aquatic fauna. They have been noted to feed on crayfish, snails and leeches, they prefer clear lakes because they can more see their prey through the water.
The loon uses its pointy bill to grasp prey. They eat vertebrate prey headfirst to facilitate swallowing, swallow all their prey whole. To help digestion, loons swallow small pebbles from the bottoms of lakes. Similar to grit eaten by chickens, these gastroliths may assist the loon's gizzard in crushing the hard parts of the loon's food such as the exoskeletons of crustaceans and the bones of frogs and salamanders; the gastroliths may be involved in stomach cleaning as an aid to regurgitation of indigestible food parts. Loons may inadvertently ingest small lead pellets, released by anglers and hunters, that will contribute to lead poisoning and the loon's eventual death. Jurisdictions that have banned the use of lead shot and sinkers include but are not limited to Maine, New Hampshire, some areas of Massachusetts, Yellowstone National Park, Great Britain, Canada and Denmark. Loons nest during the summer on freshwater lakes and/or large ponds. Smaller bodies of water will only have one pair. Larger lakes may have more than one pair, with each pair occupying a section of the lake.
The red-throated loon, may nest colonially, several pairs close together, in small Arctic tarns and feed at sea or in larger lakes, ferrying the food in for the young. Loons mate on land on the future nest site, build their nests close to the water, preferring sites that are surrounded by water such as islands or emergent vegetation. Loons use a variety of materials to build their nests including aquatic vegetation, pine needles, grass and mud. Sometimes, nest material is lacking. Both male and female incubate jointly for 28 days. If the eggs are lost, the pair may re-nest in a different location. Since the nest is close to the water, rising water may induce the birds to move the nest upwards, over a meter. Despite the equal participation of the sexes in nest building and incubation, analysis has shown that males alone select the location of the nest; this pattern has the important consequence that male loons, but not females, establish significant si
Crab
Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which have a short projecting "tail" entirely hidden under the thorax. They live in all the world's oceans, in fresh water, on land, are covered with a thick exoskeleton and have a single pair of pincers. Many other animals with similar names – such as hermit crabs, king crabs, porcelain crabs, horseshoe crabs, crab lice – are not true crabs. Crabs are covered with a thick exoskeleton, composed of mineralized chitin, armed with a single pair of chelae. Crabs are found in all of the world's oceans, while many crabs live in fresh water and on land in tropical regions. Crabs vary in size from the pea crab, a few millimetres wide, to the Japanese spider crab, with a leg span of up to 4 metres. About 850 species of crab are terrestrial or semi-terrestrial species, they were thought to be a monophyletic group, but are now believed to represent at least two distinct lineages, one in the Old World and one in the New World. The earliest unambiguous crab fossils date from the Jurassic, although Carboniferous Imocaris, known only from its carapace, may be a primitive crab.
The radiation of crabs in the Cretaceous and afterward may be linked either to the break-up of Gondwana or to the concurrent radiation of bony fish, crabs' main predators. Crabs show marked sexual dimorphism. Males have larger claws, a tendency, pronounced in the fiddler crabs of the genus Uca. In fiddler crabs, males have one claw, enlarged and, used for communication for attracting a mate. Another conspicuous difference is the form of the pleon; this is. Crabs attract a mate through chemical, acoustic, or vibratory means. Pheromones are used by most aquatic crabs, while terrestrial and semiterrestrial crabs use visual signals, such as fiddler crab males waving their large claws to attract females; the vast number of brachyuran crabs have mate belly-to-belly. For many aquatic species, mating takes place just after the female is still soft. Females can store the sperm for a long time before using it to fertilise their eggs; when fertilisation has taken place, the eggs are released onto the female's abdomen, below the tail flap, secured with a sticky material.
In this location, they are protected during embryonic development. Females carrying eggs are called "berried"; when development is complete, the female releases the newly hatched larvae into the water, where they are part of the plankton. The release is timed with the tides; the free-swimming tiny zoea larvae can take advantage of water currents. They have a spine, which reduces the rate of predation by larger animals; the zoea of most species must find food, but some crabs provide enough yolk in the eggs that the larval stages can continue to live off the yolk. Each species has a particular number of zoeal stages, separated by moults, before they change into a megalopa stage, which resembles an adult crab, except for having the abdomen sticking out behind. After one more moult, the crab is a juvenile, living on the bottom rather than floating in the water; this last moult, from megalopa to juvenile, is critical, it must take place in a habitat, suitable for the juvenile to survive. Most species of terrestrial crabs must migrate down to the ocean to release their larvae.
After living for a short time as larvae in the ocean, the juveniles must do this migration in reverse. In many tropical areas with land crabs, these migrations result in considerable roadkill of migrating crabs. Once crabs have become juveniles, they will still have to keep moulting many more times to become adults, they are covered with a hard shell. The moult cycle is coordinated by hormones; when preparing for moult, the old shell is softened and eroded away, while the rudimentary beginnings of a new shell form under it. At the time of moulting, the crab takes in a lot of water to expand and crack open the old shell at a line of weakness along the back edge of the carapace; the crab must extract all of itself – including its legs, mouthparts and the lining of the front and back of the digestive tract – from the old shell. This is a difficult process that takes many hours, if a crab gets stuck, it will die. After freeing itself from the old shell, the crab is soft and hides until its new shell has hardened.
While the new shell is still soft, the crab can expand it to make room for future growth. Crabs walk sideways, because of the articulation of the legs which makes a sidelong gait more efficient. However, some crabs walk forwards or backwards, including raninids, Libinia emarginata and Mictyris platycheles; some crabs, notably the Portunidae and Matutidae, are capable of swimming, the Portunidae so as their last pair of walking legs is flattened into swimming paddles. Crabs are active animals with complex behaviour patterns, they can communicate by waving their pincers. Crabs tend to be aggressive towards one another, males fight to gain access to females. On rocky seashores, where nearly all caves and crevices
Blackstone River
The Blackstone River is a river in the U. S. states of Rhode Island. It flows 48 mi and drains a watershed of 540 sq. mi. Its long history of industrial use has left a legacy of pollution, it was characterized by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1990 as "the most polluted river in the country with respect to toxic sediments." The river is named after William Blackstone who arrived in Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1623, became the first European settler of present-day Boston in 1625. He relocated again, to Rhode Island in 1635 and built his home on the river, in what would become Cumberland. With the Providence River, the Blackstone was the northeastern border of Dutch claims for New Netherland from Adriaen Block's charting of Narragansett Bay in 1614 through the Hartford Treaty of 1650; the original Native American name for the river was the "Kittacuck", which meant "the great tidal river". The "Kittacuck", or Blackstone, was plentiful with salmon and lamprey in pre-colonial and colonial times.
In 1790, Samuel Slater opened the first successful water powered cotton mill in America, Slater Mill, at Pawtucket Falls. This mill was powered by the waters of the Blackstone River. Many other mills appeared along the Blackstone River over time making it an important part of American industry; the industrialization led to the river being identified by the end of the 20th century as the primary source of Narragansett Bay pollution. In August 1955, severe flooding on the Blackstone caused extensive damage to Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Where the river is 70 feet wide it swelled to over 1 mile wide; the flooding of the Blackstone was the result of a succession of dam breaks and was caused by rainfall from Hurricane Connie followed a week by Hurricane Diane, which together deposited over 20 inches of rain in parts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The Blackstone river reached a stage of 21.8 feet in Woonsocket. The river, together with the Woonasquatucket River to the south, was designated an American Heritage River in 1998.
The river is formed in Worcester, Massachusetts by the confluence of the Middle River and Mill Brook. From there, it follows a rough southeast course through Millbury, Grafton, Uxbridge and Blackstone, it continues into Rhode Island, where it flows through Woonsocket, Lincoln, Central Falls, Pawtucket, where the river reaches Pawtucket Falls. After that, the river becomes tidal, flows into the Seekonk River just north of Providence. Other tributaries join the Blackstone along the way, such as the West and Mumford River, at Uxbridge, the Branch River in North Smithfield; the Blackstone River has a long association with industry, a legacy of pollution as a result. By 1900 the river was considered polluted and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said in a report, "The Department finds that the condition of the Blackstone River is offensive throughout its course, from Worcester to the state line at Blackstone; the condition of the stream is to grow worse until effective measures are completed for removing from the river much of the pollution which it now receives."
Little was done to abate this pollution for the next 72 years, until the passage of the Clean Water Act began to spur some action on the part of States and the Federal Government to clean up polluted rivers and streams. Progress was slow, as as 1990, the United States Environmental Protection Agency called the Blackstone, "The most polluted river in the country with respect to toxic sediments."Early industries discharged a variety of pollutants into the river including dyes from textile mills and heavy metals and solvents from metal and woodworking industries. Much of this early pollution lies trapped in sediments behind historic dams on the river and continues to affect the ecosystem today. Much recent pollution can be traced to the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District, the wastewater treatment plant for Worcester and surrounding communities, which discharges into the Blackstone. A 2005 report written by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management said, "... UBWPAD, North Attleboro, Attleboro WWTFs play a significant role in the ability to improve water quality in the Providence and Seekonk River system, efforts to reduce their nitrogen inputs should be initiated as soon as possible."
In September 2010, the Conservation Law Foundation, citing this report, filed a lawsuit claiming that the discharge permit issued to the UBWPAD by the Environmental Protection Agency is not "sufficient to meet state water quality standards."River cleanup is still underway, today the Blackstone is considered a Class C river for much of its length. Below is a list of all crossings over the Blackstone River; the list goes downstream. Worcester Millbury Street Massachusetts State Route 122A/146 Millbury Southwest Cutoff Access Road Interstate 90 Main Street Massachusetts State Route 146 MA 146 Ramp to Main Street Waters Street Elm Street South Main Street Providence Street Riverlin Street Sutton Blackstone Street Depot Street Grafton Pleasant Street Main Street Depot Street Northbridge Sutton Street Providence Road Elston Avenue Church Street Extension Uxbridge East Hartford Avenue Mendon Street Millville Road Millville Central Street Cam's Street Blackstone Bridge Street St. Paul Street Woonsocket Singleton Street River Stree
Shellfish
Shellfish is a food source and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found in freshwater. In addition, a few species of land crabs are eaten, for example Cardisoma guanhumi in the Caribbean. Despite the name, shellfish are not a kind of fish, but are water-dwelling animals. Many varieties of shellfish are closely related to insects and arachnids, making up one of the main classes of the phylum Arthropoda. Cephalopods and bivalves are molluscs. Shellfish used as a food source by humans include many species of clams, oysters and scallops; some crustaceans that are eaten are shrimp, lobsters and crabs. Echinoderms are not as harvested for food as molluscs and crustaceans. Most shellfish eat a diet composed of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Shellfish are among the most common food allergens; the term shellfish is used both specifically.
In common parlance, as in having "shellfish" for dinner, it can refer to anything from clams and oysters to lobster and shrimp. For regulatory purposes it is narrowly defined as filter-feeding molluscs such as clams and oyster to the exclusion of crustaceans and all else. Although the term is applied to marine species, edible freshwater invertebrates such as crayfish and river mussels are sometimes grouped under the umbrella term "shellfish". Although their shells may differ, all shellfish are invertebrates; as non-mammalian animals that spend their entire lives in water they are "fish" in an informal sense. The word "shellfish" is both plural. Archaeological finds have shown that humans have been making use of shellfish as a food item for hundreds of thousands of years. In the present, shellfish dishes are a feature of all the cuisines of the world, providing an important source of protein in many cuisines around the world in the countries with coastal areas. In the Japanese cuisine, chefs use shellfish and their roe in different dishes.
Sushi features both cooked shellfish. Sashimi consists of fresh raw seafood, sliced into thin pieces. Both sushi and sashimi are served with soy sauce and wasabi paste, thinly sliced pickled ginger root, a simple garnish such as shiso or finely shredded daikon radish, or both. Lobster in particular is a great delicacy in the United States, where families in the Northeast region make them into the centerpiece of a clam bake for special occasions. Lobsters are eaten on much of the East Coast. A typical meal involves boiling the lobster with some slight seasoning and serving it with drawn butter, baked potato, corn on the cob. Clamming is done both commercially and recreationally along the Northeast coastline of the US. Various type of clams are incorporated into the cuisine of New England; the soft-shelled clam is fried or steamed. Many types of clams can be used for clam chowder, but the quahog, a hard shelled clam known as a chowder clam, is used because the long cooking time softens its tougher meat.
The Chesapeake Bay and Maryland region has been associated more with crabs, but in recent years the area has been trying to reduce its catch of blue crabs, as wild populations have been depleted. This has not, stemmed the demand: Maryland-style crabcakes are still a well known treat in crabhouses all over the bay, though the catch now comes from points farther south. In the Southeast, the gulf states, shrimping is an important industry. Copious amounts of shrimp are harvested each year in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean to satisfy a national demand for shrimp. Locally and shrimp are deep fried. Crawfish are a well known and much eaten delicacy there boiled in huge pots and spiced. In many major cities with active fishing ports, raw oyster bars are a feature of shellfish consumption; when served freshly shucked and iced, one may find a liquid inside the shell, called the liquor. Some believe. Inter-tidal herbivorous shellfish such as mussels and clams can help people reach a healthy balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fats in their diets, instead of the current Western diets.
For this reason, the eating of shellfish is encouraged by dietitians. Shellfish are a rich source of the amino acid taurine. Shellfish is a common part of indigenous cuisines throughout the philippines; some popular dishes using shellfish: Ceviche Cioppino Callaloo Clam chowder Curanto Fruits de mer Paella Sashimi Shrimp cocktail Lobster bisque She-crab soup Sliced fish soup Sushi Shrimp Saganaki The Torah forbids the c
