On the Menu

October 14, 2005
From: Richard Jemison

After accidentally catching a strange creature on a fishing trip recently in Australia I decided to at least try and identify the animal it was a large sea hare, it was safely returned to the water after a large ink secretion that the kids and I found very interesting.

My question is this: after living in China for the last three years the event in Australia brought home to me that some of the Asian countries I have visited have sea slugs on the menu in many restauraunts. Am I confused or is this actually the case?  Sea cucumbers and other deep marine bottom dwellers are definitely every day fare here, but are these animals really edible? (by the way they are not called a slug or a hare on the menu)

Richard Jemison

richardjemison@hotmail.com

Jemison, R., 2005 (Oct 14) On the Menu. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/15009

Dear Rich,
This is mainly a question of nomenclature. Sea Slugs to the purist, refer solely to "marine snails which have either lost their shells or are in the evolutionary process of doing so". However 'slug' has a wider meaning in the community. For example, holothurians [sea cucumbers, beche de mer, etc.], which are considered a delicacy in Asia and parts of the Pacific, are also called 'sea slugs', which rather confuses the issue.

Unfortunately, you will see from earlier messages on the Sea Slug recipes page that 'true' sea slugs on the whole are not very palatable.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Oct 14). Comment on On the Menu by Richard Jemison. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/15009

Factsheet

Sea slug recipes

Related messages

  1. Edible Sea Slugs near Vancouver, Canada
    From: Calvin Patterson, October 25, 2005
  2. Recipes page
    From: Malcolm Whittaker, February 24, 2003
  3. RE: Are slugs edible?
    From: Nishina Masayoshi, September 12, 2002
  4. Are slugs edible?
    From: Susan Holzer, August 15, 2002
  5. Slugs in Folklore
    From: Paul Delon, September 24, 1999
  6. Are Sea Slugs used as food?
    From: Nick Robertson , June 24, 1999
  7. Sea Slug recipes
    From: Brian Penney, November 6, 1998
  8. Re: Sea slugs as food in China
    From: Dorothy, October 22, 1998
  9. Sea slugs as food in China
    From: Dorothy, October 21, 1998
  10. Edible Varieties
    From: Random, September 8, 1998
  11. Re: Sea Slug Recipes
    From: Cory Pittman, July 13, 1998
  12. Re: Sea Slug Recipes
    From: Bruce Hallman, July 7, 1998
  13. Re: Sea Slug Recipes
    From: Bruce Hallman, July 5, 1998
  14. Sea Slug Recipes
    From: Webboy, July 2, 1998

Show factsheet and all related messages