This seafood is known by many names such as goose barnacles, persimmons or gooseneck snails. This is one of the rarest and most delicious seafood in the world .
The barnacle is a strange-looking crustacean with a long body and a hard shell that is joined together, but the meat inside is long, curved, and soft.
They live under the sea, have tentacles to cling to hard surfaces on the coast such as rocks, tree trunks, boats, etc. Although not large in size, they have the ability to drill through hard objects, even large rocks.
With thick bodies, goose barnacles live on rocks on the shore between high and low tides. They also feed on the rise and fall of the tide.
Goose barnacles are abundant in the coastal areas of Spain, Portugal and Canada. But the best ones live mainly in the westernmost part of Portugal.
This type of snail only lives in places with very clean water sources. The water quality requirements of goose barnacles are quite high. If the seawater is seriously polluted, they will not be able to survive, and will even die very quickly. Therefore, they can be considered as an indicator of the level of pollution in the seawater.
The reason they are called goose barnacles or gooseneck snails is because the head of this type of snail really looks like a goose's head with a long neck, round head and pointed beak.
Some goose barnacles are longer and look like human fingers and fingernails. Therefore, in Portugal, people call this seafood “Lucifer’s fingers”. Anyone who sees them for the first time will feel a little scared by their ugly appearance.
The goose snail only lives in the wild in the ocean and cannot be farmed. This type of snail is sold at a high price partly due to its rarity and the difficult and dangerous exploitation process.
Notably, goose barnacles also have another nickname, the seafood from hell, because they often live on coastal rocks, where large waves often crash. To catch goose barnacles, fishermen have to take a boat out to sea and dive to find them because they cling tightly to the rocks.
Fishermen must climb down a cliff about 100m high with a strong rope and specialized tools to chisel the rock surface where the tide is low. Skilled fishermen will know how to catch the fish according to the wave rhythm. Those who harvest goose barnacles need experience and skill to remove them, avoiding tearing them directly when separating them from the rock.
In particular, catching goose barnacles requires working in groups to ensure safety. They form teams, coordinate well, calculate the time to be safe and know when to stop. Goose barnacles are very difficult to preserve. Therefore, fishermen usually only go fishing when there is an order.
Because catching gooseneck snails is relatively hard and dangerous, hunting this type of seafood is very strictly managed.
In Galicia, Spain, the government only allows each licensed hunter to hunt "devil's finger" 6kg per day, if violated, the license will be immediately revoked and hunting is strictly prohibited.
Similarly, in Portugal, gooseneck snail hunting is strictly regulated. Only 80 gooseneck snail diving permits are issued each year, with each diver required to collect only 15kg of gooseneck snails per day.
Although it looks scary, this is the most delicious seafood in the world. It is very easy to eat goose barnacles because when boiled, the body will be softer. Just use both hands to gently press the joint between the body and the head of the goose barnacle to easily remove the shell. The edible part is the white meat inside.
Europeans love this food and consider it a high-class seafood because it has very high nutritional value. Goose oysters contain many trace elements, have a sweet, delicious taste that is hard to resist. Many diners who have enjoyed it describe goose oysters as more delicious than lobster or king crab.
Goose barnacles are listed as delicious dishes in many luxury restaurants around the world. In European restaurants, each plate of goose barnacles costs about 100 Euros (about more than 2.5 million VND).
On the market, this type of seafood costs about 150 Euro/kg (equivalent to more than 3.8 million VND/kg). Although expensive, there are still people who want to buy but cannot buy this type of seafood because it is quite rare.
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