Musselcracker

A hop skip and a jump away from Abalone is Musselcracker - also a little wave at my childhood. I grew up with my father bringing home fresh line fish over the weekends that he caught off the wild Cape coasts... and a rare treat would be a Musselcracker, something which we perhaps enjoyed three or four times in the space of about 15 years. This was long before the days of endangered fish species - sadly this fish is currently on vulnerable status (and has a no-sale Sassi status) in South Africa; it's numbers having been decimated by overfishing.

I remember being called over by my father - telling me to look inside the fish's mouth....and there...like a row of strange pearls...teeth that looked very much like the milk teeth molars I had just taken leave of. He went on to explain that this fish grinds up mussels, and needs these smooth, round teeth to eat. I had a vague thought that we lived in a really interesting world.

Musselcracker is a deeper shade of Abalone, with a hint of darker silver greys, and dark speckles.