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Before my wife immigrated to the US from Liberia as a kid, she loved eating "kiss meat". It's a freshwater snail they collect from the swamp during the rainy season and eat as a delicacy, so called because you suck the meat out with a kiss.

Here's a YouTube video of this process, so you can get a good look at the snail and see its habitat (mangroves).

This is the best image from the video that I could find. They've been washed and the rear of their shell has been broken off. I can't get Stack Exchange to let me add a second picture ); enter image description here

I have not been able to find any other references to these snails, except under the name "kiss meat". Would anyone be able to identify these?

(Note: There seems to be a similar looking brackish snail commonly called "African Periwinkle". I don't think this is the same thing.)

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  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to Biology.SE. It is important that your question contain all the content that will help answer it, without relying on external links like videos that may be deleted sometime in the future. It's fine (and encouraged) to reference outside sources, of course, but it shouldn't be crucial to understanding the question to visit the link. $\endgroup$
    – Bryan Krause
    Commented Jan 19, 2021 at 5:48
  • $\begingroup$ @BryanKrause Thank you for the feedback! I'll get some pictures added. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 19, 2021 at 20:14

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It's Tympanotonos fuscatus from West Africa. They harbor near the roots of mangrove at low tide. Due to their tendency to bioaccumulate heavy metals, they have been used in studies of environmental presence of heavy metals, and the samples taken from markets have been found to be excessively high in cobalt and manganese.

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you! So it seems they are the same thing as African Periwinkle... $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 21, 2021 at 14:34
  • $\begingroup$ Yes indeed, it's them. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 21, 2021 at 19:57

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