Re: Dolabella as food

July 23, 1999
From: Claudia Armann

Hi Bill,

I visted your site and read about Dolabella auricularia. I am Research Editor for AQUA Magazine (www.aquamag.com) and we have a regular column about unique seafood that people eat around the world. I think the sea hare would be a great subject for this piece. I have e-mailed some questions about the edibility to Sandeep, the Fijian researcher.

I wanted to ask you in particular about the toxic quality of this animal. You mentioned that there have been some deaths related to eating sea hares and I wanted to know if this involved Dolabella. Can you tell me about the toxicity of this species and what people do to remove the toxins?

Claudia Armann
Research Editor, AQUA Magazine
California
(805) 745-7118

carmann@aquamag.com

Armann, C., 1999 (Jul 23) Re: Dolabella as food. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1099

Dear Claudia,
I think Sandeep is the best person to approach for answers about its use as food in Fiji. All I know is what is on this page, from Sandeep and Veikila.

Did I actually say there have been deaths? I know of only one case of poisoning involving Dolabella, and that is reported fully in Michael Sorokin's paper (1998) which you will find in the Dolabella Reference List. In that case both patients survived.

In brief, Sea Hares are herbivores and the algae they feed on contain quite toxic chemicals (diterpenes etc) which could potentially be very powerful defence weapons for the Sea Hares. However, the Sea Hares apparently retain these secondary chemical compounds in their digestive gland, which is an internal organ, rather than in their skin, where they could deter predators.

In the one reported case of poisoning, the animal was taken fresh from the reef, rinsed in seawater, but not otherwise cut open or 'cleaned'. At home it was cut into pieces, fried in oil and eaten with other food. Both husband and wife quickly developed vomiting and diarrhoea, limb pain and tingling, but the husband recovered after a couple of days The wife however was hospitalised with more severe symptoms, but recovered after a week or so.

Details are in Sorokin (1988). One aspect that puzzles me is that other villagers said that the Dolabella needs to be cleaned properly but I have no clear idea of how they do this. I thought perhaps they discard the digestive gland but apparently that is eaten as well. I am hoping Sandeep will be able to clarify this for us as her research develops.

I have just posted a message on Pacific Islanders eating Stylocheilus longicauda. In contradiction to what I say above about Dolabella, they clean the Stylocheilus by removing the internal organs. Very puzzling.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 1999 (Jul 23). Comment on Re: Dolabella as food by Claudia Armann. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1099

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