Any person may take up to bushel of whelks for personal use per day without a license or permit. F. Product harvested from areas which are closed for the harvest of soft-shell clams due to marine biotoxins, must be processed in the State of Maine and shall be tagged by the harvester at the time of harvest. Permit Number Harvest Date Harvest Area Quantity of shell stock. Each container will be tagged 3. H. The Commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources may require mandatory reporting of data relevant to the harvest and processing of whelks.
Waved whelks are medium sized, univalves with both axial and spiral ridges on their shell.
When their soft body is exposed, it is white with black splotches. Two distinctive features of a whelk shell are an oval aperture and a siphonal notch. Waved whelks can be found along the Atlantic seaboard from the Arctic to New Jersey. They live subtidally to depths of about six hundred feet. Whelks have a powerful muscular foot that glides on a film of mucus which they secrete.