Gathering seafood by hand
Encyclopedia
Gathering seafood by hand can be as easily as picking shellfish
or kelp
up off the beach
, or doing some digging for clam
s or crab
s, or perhaps diving under the water for abalone
or lobster
s.
Shellfish can be collected from intertidal areas using a spade or rake and put through a sieve to extract the ones of marketable size.
Seafood can be found in coastal zone
s as well as rivers and lakes around the world. Seafood suitable for gathering by hand includes aquatic
invertebrate
s such as molluscs, crustacean
s, and echinoderm
s as well as aquatic plants. Some molluscs (shellfish) commonly gathered are oyster
s, clam
s, scallop
s and cockle
s. Some crustaceans commonly gathered are lobster, crayfish, and crabs. A common plant gathered is kelp
. Echinoderms are not gathered as much as mollusks and crustaceans. In Asia, sea cucumber
and sea urchin
s are gathered. In parts of the United States
, mainly the South
, catfish
, primarily of the flathead
species, are occasionally caught by hand in a technique most often known as noodling
.
Very little, or no specialized equipment is required to gather many of these sea foods. We would expect to see evidence for shellfish consumption in prehistory
, since the discarded shell can remain for long periods. In fact the earliest evidence for shellfish consumption dates back to a 300,000 year old site in France
called Terra Amata
. This is a hominid site as modern Homo sapiens did not appear until around 50,000 years ago. The importance of shellfish in prehistoric diet has been the source of much debate in archaeology
. Sometimes they are referred to as a famine food
and their nutritional value is played down at the expense of terrestrial or non-marine food sources.
Some shellfish are gathered by diving. Pearl diving is the practice of hunting for oyster
s by free-diving to depths of up to thirty metres. Abalone
are also gathered by diving. Divers can also catch lobster
s by hand.
Shellfish
Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...
or kelp
Kelp
Kelps are large seaweeds belonging to the brown algae in the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera....
up off the beach
Beach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
, or doing some digging for clam
Clam
The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
s or crab
Crab
True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
s, or perhaps diving under the water for abalone
Abalone
Abalone , from aulón, are small to very large-sized edible sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Haliotidae and the genus Haliotis...
or lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
s.
Shellfish can be collected from intertidal areas using a spade or rake and put through a sieve to extract the ones of marketable size.
Seafood can be found in coastal zone
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
s as well as rivers and lakes around the world. Seafood suitable for gathering by hand includes aquatic
Aquatic animal
An aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life. It may breathe air or extract its oxygen from that dissolved in water through specialised organs called gills, or directly through its skin. Natural environments and the animals that...
invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s such as molluscs, crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s, and echinoderm
Echinoderm
Echinoderms are a phylum of marine animals. Echinoderms are found at every ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone....
s as well as aquatic plants. Some molluscs (shellfish) commonly gathered are oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
s, clam
Clam
The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
s, scallop
Scallop
A scallop is a marine bivalve mollusk of the family Pectinidae. Scallops are a cosmopolitan family, found in all of the world's oceans. Many scallops are highly prized as a food source...
s and cockle
Cockle (bivalve)
Cockle is the common name for a group of small, edible, saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Cardiidae.Various species of cockles live in sandy sheltered beaches throughout the world....
s. Some crustaceans commonly gathered are lobster, crayfish, and crabs. A common plant gathered is kelp
Kelp
Kelps are large seaweeds belonging to the brown algae in the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera....
. Echinoderms are not gathered as much as mollusks and crustaceans. In Asia, sea cucumber
Sea cucumber (food)
Sea cucumbers are marine animals of the class Holothuroidea used in fresh or dried form in various cuisines.The creature and the food product is commonly known as bêche-de-mer in French, trepang in Indonesian, namako in Japanese and in the Philippines it is called balatan...
and sea urchin
Sea urchin
Sea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea of the echinoderm phylum. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from across. Common colors include black and dull...
s are gathered. In parts of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, mainly the South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, catfish
Catfish
Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...
, primarily of the flathead
Flathead catfish
The flathead catfish , also called the yellow cat, opelousas, and shovelhead cat, are large North American freshwater catfish. This is the only species of the genus Pylodictis...
species, are occasionally caught by hand in a technique most often known as noodling
Noodling
Noodling is fishing for catfish using only bare hands, practiced primarily in the southern United States. The noodler places his hand inside a discovered catfish hole...
.
Very little, or no specialized equipment is required to gather many of these sea foods. We would expect to see evidence for shellfish consumption in prehistory
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
, since the discarded shell can remain for long periods. In fact the earliest evidence for shellfish consumption dates back to a 300,000 year old site in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
called Terra Amata
Terra Amata
Terra Amata is an archeological site in open air located on the slopes of Mount Boron in Nice, at a level 26 meters above the current sea level of the Mediterranean. It was discovered and excavated in 1966 by Henry de Lumley...
. This is a hominid site as modern Homo sapiens did not appear until around 50,000 years ago. The importance of shellfish in prehistoric diet has been the source of much debate in archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
. Sometimes they are referred to as a famine food
Famine food
A famine food or poverty food is any inexpensive or readily-available foodstuff used to nourish people in times of extreme poverty or starvation, as during a war or famine...
and their nutritional value is played down at the expense of terrestrial or non-marine food sources.
Some shellfish are gathered by diving. Pearl diving is the practice of hunting for oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
s by free-diving to depths of up to thirty metres. Abalone
Abalone
Abalone , from aulón, are small to very large-sized edible sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Haliotidae and the genus Haliotis...
are also gathered by diving. Divers can also catch lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
s by hand.