Tidal flat in Quan Lan island, Van Don district, Quang Ninh province. Photo TTH Fresh sa worms sold at the tidal flats cost more than 300,000 VND/kg, reaching the consumer’s table can be up to millions of dollars and preliminarily processed and dried depending on different prices, the most expensive can be up to nearly ten million VND. /kg. So enough to see, Sa worm is more expensive than many rare and precious specialties from the sea. Sa worm is less distributed, easy to exploit and reproduce, it is more difficult to maintain the natural breed, meanwhile, it is not possible to artificially breed this high-value seafood. In the Northeast Sea, which is geographically located in the Gulf of Tonkin with many bays, conifers and coastal saltwater ponds, it is the ideal habitat of the Sa worm. In addition, the tidal flats must have primary flora and mangrove trees for the slugs to reside. This layer of mangroves keeps the plankton in the water and is the food for the worms and many other bivalve molluscs such as clams, clams, oysters, blood cockles… Sa worm is mentioned as a specialty of Quan Lan and Minh Chau islands, Van Don district, Quang Ninh province because in the tidal flats along Quan Lan island, there is the best kind of worm. Another reason is that the oldest fishery of worms originated from the inhabitants of the island. There are families whose profession of digging and catching fish is passed down from generation to generation, supporting many generations. Increasingly, this item is more and more expensive due to scarcity and there was a time when sage was hunted and sold. Officers of Quan Lan Border Guard Station (Quang Ninh Border Guard) stationed in the area always integrate propaganda content to protect aquatic resources whenever there is a meeting or propaganda sessions. But only the fisherman understands better, if not protected, not “saved” for the next season, the risk of worms will also disappear like blood cockles, boredom, silk clams… Most of the fishers are women. They understand the characteristics of this intertidal marine species. With a specialized sand shovel, they arrived at the tidal flat early in the morning. At night, the worms in the nest come up to eat plankton, they use a shovel to quickly roll up the sand layer to catch it. The sun is up, the temperature is high, the sand is hot, the animal will hide deep down, not being caught anymore. It is important that the fishing profession is completely manual. If mechanized or used tools to plow the sand, the slugs will no longer be able to reproduce and will disappear until they disappear. It has happened in other sea areas such as Tien Yen, Ha Long, and Quang Yen of Quang Ninh province, when the tidal flats dried up, mangroves were cut down, over-exploited, encroached on the sea, and sucked sand. make the sage disappear. The People’s Committee of Quang Ninh province has regulated the period of banning the exploitation of worms in June and July every year (the breeding time of the worms). Mining is only allowed by the traditional manual method of using apricots and spades and only for worms that have reached a size over 10cm long. Along with people’s lives, Quan Lan Border Guard Station, when receiving people’s feedback, authenticates information and coordinates with many levels and branches to protect the intertidal area. Due to the large profits, many traders instigate people to use high-pressure pumps, pump out water, and plow the tidal flats to catch worms. The whole coastal shoal area was overturned, the environment was polluted, and large and small seafood was destroyed. There are times, early in the morning, when people go to the beach to “hunt” sa worms, Border Guard officers also come out to support people in protecting the intertidal area, propagandize and mobilize so that people do not exploit in the form of fishing. extermination, peace of mind to pursue their livelihoods, and at the same time, severely punish households who do not comply with the general regulations, exterminate fishing, and destroy the environment. Van Don has more than 2,000 hectares of tidal flats and nearly 1,000 fishermen make a living by hunting worms and natural intertidal mollusks. The original people in the island very well understand that seafood is their source of life, but when people from other places come, traders only buy for profit, there are always fishing activities that go against the interests of the community. this population. Especially, sand mining activities have been boycotted, protested and petitioned by fishermen, causing the locality to suspend this activity and rearrange order and stability in coastal residential areas. Accordingly, all acts of encroaching on the tidal flats, destroying the habitat of marine resources, local authorities encourage people to detect, denounce and clarify. Recently, Quan Minh Co., Ltd., an enterprise that dredging creeks and exploiting silica sand, has been accused by people of affecting the environment and attacking tidal flats, dumping waste, polluting the environment. affect the growth of the worm. In many places, people see both young worms and the fear of the extinction of worms is real. Van Don district immediately suspended the project’s construction to protect marine resources and at the same time maintain security and order in the area.

This species is extremely toxic, it prefers to hide in coral reefs, rocks and sandy seabeds from intertidal to intertidal zones in southeastern China and tropical seas. Their bodies contain more than 200 pharmacologically active substances and a single drop of venom can kill 20 adults. To date there have been at least 100 recorded deaths from the venom of this species and the actual number could be much higher. The creature we are talking about here is the Cone Snail, also known as the cone snail, is a marine gastropod mollusk, so far more than 70 species have been found along the coast. along the coast of China and there are more than 1,000 species discovered in the world. Their venom is made up of a mixture called peptide conus. Each of them will have a unique venom formula. More than 50,000 conus peptides have been discovered, they are all neurotoxins and no vertebrate species on our planet possesses this form of venom. The Cone Snail has a mostly cone-shaped appearance and the largest can be 23 cm long. They are purely carnivores and predators, feeding mainly on sea worms, small fish, mollusks and even other cone snails. It can release venom at any time in its life, and this species is always ready to wipe out all living things around it. But surely you will find it difficult to understand because in our impression, snails are very slow-moving mollusks, how can they hunt, especially fast-moving species like fish? In fact, the secret to their hunting is not in their movement speed, instead they hunt by using their venom and developing an extremely efficient venom system. All cone snails are masters of poisons, likened to the five poisons in the animal kingdom. They have a tongue pocket in their throat, which contains many hollow toothed tongues, which resemble spearheads and are made of hard chitin. Because of their slow movement speed, cone snails often hunt by “holding a tree and waiting for rabbits”, which will lie in the sand at the bottom of the water, only revealing their long tubular mouth and tentacles in the sand. Once it detects prey such as a small fish or something passing by, it will use strong muscle contractions to shoot the tongue connected with the venom gland from its long tubular mouth at lightning speed and “close the gap”. nail” into the body, injecting poison into the prey. This venom will paralyze prey within seconds and die instantly. To prevent their prey from struggling, some species of snails have created a toxin that can reduce pain and anesthetize the prey’s nerves, making the prey feel no pain and slowly die without even realizing it. know. When the prey is fixed and no longer struggling, the conch will withdraw the “hook” (toothed tongue), pulling the paralyzed prey into the mouth. It’s worth noting that even when it’s not during mealtimes, if it feels threatened, the conch shells will shoot out without hesitation. So if you see brightly colored and beautiful cones on the beach, don’t stress. It came out by accident. Pick it up, especially the larger cone snails. This behavior can kill you because the conch’s nose can pierce the skin, gloves or wetsuit. Especially among cone snails, there is a species called Gastridium geographus, also known as geographical cone snail, killer snail, they are known as one of the most poisonous snails in the world, and one of the most dangerous snails in the world. marine animals that are extremely toxic to humans. One study estimated that this species alone caused 36 deaths. Symptoms of a snail sting include local pain, swelling, numbness, tingling, and vomiting. Symptoms may appear immediately or slowly over several days. In severe cases, muscle paralysis, vision changes and respiratory failure can lead to death. The various neurotoxins contained in cone snails are called cono toxins. In addition to being toxic to humans, in this venom mixture there are many beneficial substances, which can work accurately and quickly on the human nervous system without causing side effects. Therefore, this snail can also open up a new medical future for humans. For example, cono peptides have the potential to prevent spasticity caused by spinal cord injury and may help diagnose and treat small cell lung cancer. Conotoxins can immediately generate nerve signals that reduce heart rate or turn off pain receptors. Ziconotide isolated from it is used as an analgesic. It is said to be 1000 times more effective than morphine and not addictive. Conotoxin ACV1, isolated from Victoria cone cone in Australia, is more effective than morphine and Ziconotide, has a longer analgesic effect and is convenient to use without side effects. It has been shown to be very effective in the treatment of post-operative and neurological conditions, and even accelerates the recovery of nerve damage, and is expected to be developed as a treatment for anxiety. , Parkinson’s disease, muscle tension and hypertension.