Overpriced clams and blue crab change Xmas menus

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 7 - The scarcity and consequent exorbitant prices of Italian clams, usually a staple of Christmas Eve seafood spaghetti suppers, have changed festive menus this year after an invasion of the alien blue crab decimated clam stocks.
    Many Italians are instead turning to the smaller sea lupins in planning their Xmas Eve feasts, when meat is off the menu for traditional and religious reasons. Lupins have a harder shell and are less vulnerable to the highly aggressive blue crab, which has wreaked havoc this year in Italy's main clam growing grounds in Veneto and Emilia-Romagna.
    Homegrown oysters will also play a bigger part in festive fare this year. (ANSA).