queensland Mud Whelks (Pyrazus ebeninus)

[Hweebe]

I remember collecting and cooking these these whelks decades ago as a child. Does anyone still collect or eat these whelks or is pollution a concern?

Wanting to show / teach the next generation of kids what can be found in our beautiful Moreton bay.

I remember it to be a fun activity as a kid but can’t quite remember where in Brisbane we used to find them.

 

[ellicat]

I had to Google them. I think they are what we called hermit crabs. I remember them being plentiful on the Victoria Point foreshore. I suspect they still would be. Any of the muddy/rubbly areas along the bay should hold them. Next time you're at Manly ramp have a look along the beach to the north of the harbour.

[Andrew_P]

You can go look at them but not take them home from Moreton Bay

[Hweebe]

14 hours ago, Andrew_P said:

You can go look at them but not take them home from Moreton Bay

Yep that is the one...the spiral/cone looking shell. Well there you go thanks for the heads up @Andrew_P.

I wonder if it is due to pressure from people collecting back in the day or pollution / environment that has caused stocks to reduce.

[Andrew_P]

Mate it’s only a recent change (2019) and primarily from fishing pressure - people harvesting them constantly as well as in existing no take zones depleting stocks. Just shows what humans are capable of 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Shame you can't take them Hweebe. Seems like they'd have been fun back in the day.

[Drop Bear]

On 14/02/2021 at 1:05 PM, Hweebe said:

Does anyone still collect or eat these whelks or is pollution a concern?

They are a great shellfish. Luckily there are still heaps of Mud Whelks on the Wynnum/Manly waterfront. As previously stated they are a no take species now. They do a great job cleaning up the place. 

It's great that the no take laws came in as shellfish were getting slammed all over the bay. I have no evidence to suggest that the other shellfish like cockles and quampis have come back or not but I hope they do. 

The ban was mostly sparked by large numbers of people taking all types of shellfish up at Deception Bay near Sandstone Point. 

Dr Ben Diggles worked really hard to have it policed but the people doing the over fishing were very good at only taking their quota and bringing the whole family so that they could get huge numbers legally. They basically whipped out every shellfish in the area. There used to be a lot of cockles on the seagrass at wynnum but there are very few now. there also used to be a lot of other shellfish over all the weed banks over next to the Rainbow Channel but they too have been mostly cleaned out. 

I am hoping that there are still lots of them in subtidal areas so they will spawn and repopulate. Fingers crossed. 

I have eaten them years ago and they are quite delicious but I haven't really mastered the art of getting the suckers out easily.
The middens in Wynnum are full of Whelks so they were clearly a very important food for Quandamooka people. 

Thanks for the question, I love shellfish

 

[Nog]

When I was a young lad I spent a few months in Kakadu studying crabs

The local Aboriginal ranger used to come out in the field with us to find us a feed of mudcrabs.  For entree we had Mudwelks (Longbums they called them).  The trick was not to gathe rthe ones nearer the high tide mark as these were "hairy"...read poisonous.

Cooked straight on the coals and then broken open. Funnily enough the flesh was bright blue!!!!!!!

[Drop Bear]

3 hours ago, Nog said:

When I was a young lad I spent a few months in Kakadu studying crabs

The local Aboriginal ranger used to come out in the field with us to find us a feed of mudcrabs.  For entree we had Mudwelks (Longbums they called them).  The trick was not to gathe rthe ones nearer the high tide mark as these were "hairy"...read poisonous.

Cooked straight on the coals and then broken open. Funnily enough the flesh was bright blue!!!!!!!

What a great experience. Yum.