CHAPTER X 

 CRUSTACEA AND MAN 



M a n is probably the most omnivorous of all animals, and the wide 

 range of his diet is reflected in the number of different Crustacea 

 which he eats. The large decapods provide the greatest yields of 

 edible meat per individual, but many other Crustacea can be caught 

 in such vast numbers that, although they are negligible as in- 

 dividuals, in bulk they are of considerable value. Many of the 

 smaller species are made into pastes; in Asia such pastes are made 

 from true decapod shrimps, or mysids, or sometimes from 

 Euphausiids. In North Africa even the brine shrimp, Artemia 

 salina, is made into a paste and eaten with dates; this seems to be 

 the only branchiopod eaten by man. 



Barnacles, with their tough outer shells, do not seem to offer 

 much to the gourmand, but in some parts of the world the soft 

 body inside is eaten and appreciated. A species of the stalked 

 form, Pollicipes, is eaten on the coasts of Spain and Brittany, while 

 in Patagonia an acorn barnacle, Balanus psittacus, is eaten. This 

 latter species is found as a particularly massive form on the coasts 

 of Chile; the shell is cylindrical in shape, nearly eight inches in 

 length and three inches in diameter, so that this species offers a 

 meal comparable with a small lobster, and is reputed to be delicious 

 in flavour. 



Some species are only collected and eaten in restricted areas, and 

 may be regarded as local delicacies, but others are esteemed over 

 wide areas. One such is the giant mangrove swimming crab, Scylla 

 serrata, which is sold in large numbers in the fish-markets on the 

 east coast of Africa, and is enjoyed throughout the Indian and 

 western Pacific oceans as far as Japan. 



Methods of catching Crustacea are almost as varied as the 

 Crustacea themselves. The most direct method is the search for the 

 individual; this is of course only applicable to the large species, 

 and usually takes a rather obvious form, but it is said that an 

 experienced fisherman can collect large numbers of Cancer 

 pagurus by finding the haunts of a newly moulted female 



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