Toheroa (Paphies ventricosa)
A large edible bivalve of the clam family found in the north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is prized for its flesh, which was used to make fritters, and more famously, soup. Hordes of people used to invade the beaches in Northland and dig the sand with sticks to harvest the delicacy.
Unfortunately, toheroa numbers declined sharply during the 1960's through overfishing and an increase in predation by crabs. Government officials from the New Zealand Agriculture & Fisheries Department placed a permanent 'closed season' on the gathering of these shellfish in the early 1970's.