| Summary: | Four species of edible land snails of the moist forest belt of Nigeria, Archachatina marginata (Swainson), Archachatina papyracae (Pfeiffer), Limicolaria flammea (Muller) and Limicolaria aurora (Jay) were used in the study of their body composition and purchase cost analysis. Data on Limicolaria flammea and Limicolaria aurora were pooled together to simulate their occurrence in nature and presentation in the markets. They were designated as Limicolaria flammea / aurora throughout this study. The results showed that there was no significant (P> 0.05) difference between the dressing out percentages of the three study group of snails. However, all body component parts studied were significantly (P< 0.01) greater for A. marginata than for A. papyracae or L. flammea/aurora. When the mean weights of shell, visceral mass, edible flesh and the sum of the mean weights of drainable fluid, mucus and other wettings were in each case expressed as percentages of the liveweight, the results were consistently similar (P> 0.05), indicating some regular pattern of weight distribution for these mollusk species studied. When the cost implications were carefully analyzed, the results showed possible savings of $ 1.95 and $ 2.06 US dollars in favour of consumption of fresh edible snail meat from one kilogram liveweight each of A. papyracae and L. flammea/aurora respectively, as compared to the consumption of fresh edible snail meat from one kilogram liveweight of A. marginata. On dried snail meat basis, A. papyracae was cheapest ($ 0.28 US dollars / 100 g), followed closely by L. flammea/aurora ($0.40 US dollars / 100 g), while A. marginata was the costliest ($ 2.30 US dollars / 100 g.
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