THE CONCH CONVERSION - Warren Wild Ph.D., a worshipper of Charles Darwin, designs a conversion for mankind to return to the sea by splicing sea snail DNA with humans. He creates the ability for them to build shelters and breed creatures that appear human, but are albino-like with dark fish eyes. They have webs between toes and fingers. The program is started in the reef off an undiscovered volcanic island. One of the hybrids contained mutant cells, so Wild implants a chip in his brain to carry on. Wild dies before the project is finished and cannot monitor it. This imperfect hybrid creature, Professor Horace Nordick, impregnates a scientific friend's daughter to correct the mutation. Things other than mutations occur to arrest the plan's development.