Earth-Builders and Sea-Samurai: 10 Nips of Lobster, Shrimp and Crayfish Folklore

Though often just thought of as a food item, there's a fair bit of folklore around lobsters, shrimp, crayfish and prawns - in fact, some legends claim they made the very land on which you stand!  Let's take a look at...

• Crawfish, the Chitimacha and the Osage
• Pontus and Phorcys, Greek Sea Gods
• Scrumptious Sea Dragons
• Amikiri, the Net-Cutting Shrimp
• Ghost Lobsters
• The Sacred Red Prawns of Vatulele
• Crayfish and the Acadians
• Chemtatrawta - a Crustacean Chain Reaction
• Crayfish Cures
• The Sea-Dwelling Samurai

Deep folklore? (Tauchteufel)

Crawfish, the Chitimacha and the Osage

Did you know that crawfish (another name for crayfish) have a major role in the creation of dry land in the mythology of the Native American Chitimacha?

The story goes that when the Great Spirit first made the world, there wasn't a landmass in sight - just a great expanse of liquid. The Great Spirit first populated the waters with fish and shellfish... then gave the crawfish a task; they were to dive deep and bring mud back to the surface.

The mud brought up by these industrious crustaceans formed the land on which we walk today, and it was only after this task was complete that the Great Spirit created the Chitimacha.

A similar tale exists in the mythology of the Osage, in which the crayfish takes the role of "Earthdiver" and brings mud from the primordial depths to make the earth.

Pontus and Phorcys, Greek Sea Gods

Greek mythology featured at least two deities with lobster or crab components.  The first was Pontus or Pontos, a primordial sea god often depicted as a massive humanoid head rising from the waves.  His flowing hair seems to be made of a mat of seaweed, studded with crustacean-like claws and antennae.  

The son of Pontus was a great deal more lobster-like. Phorcys is depicted in mosaics as having a  humanoid head and torso that terminated in a fish-like tail.  He was covered in hard red spiky skin, and possessed a set of clawed crustacean legs - and while you might be wondering if he's more of a crab than lobster, just take a look at this mosaic from the Trajan Baths!

Not so lucky for the lobsters... (Reimond de Zuñiga)

Scrumptious Sea Dragons

Did you know that the Chinese term for lobster is lóng xiā or dragon shrimp?  Crayfish get the slightly less neat xiǎo lóng xiā or little dragon shrimp.

You might think that eating a dragon would be a mistake, but Chinese culture generally considers it quite auspicious, especially since the cooked crustaceans are red - a color considered particularly lucky.  This is particularly apparent on New Year, when the symbolism of the food you eat is said to influence the coming year... and a luxury lobster (apparently planes filled with crustaceans are flown in to fill the demand) is a fine representation of fortune, wealth and prosperity!

Amikiri, the Net Cutting Shrimp

One particularly mischievous shrimp from Japanese folklore is the amikiri or "net cutter."  They resemble a strange blend of shrimp, serpentine and avian characteristics, having an elongated body covered in a segmented red shell, a bird-like head and a set of forearm claws.

The amikiri isn't directly dangerous, but they (for reasons unknown) love to cut nets of any kind... which for fishermen, can result in lost catches and equipment.  

There's a story from the Yamagata prefecture about a fisherman who suspected damage to his nets was being caused by one of these mischievous crustaceans, so he hid his nets in his room over night to keep them safe.  Undeterred, the amikiri snuck through the window and shredded his mosquito net, resulting in the hapless fisherman being covered in bites the next morning!

Maybe it's like popping bubble-wrap for the amikiri? (Burkhard Kaufhold)

Ghost Lobsters

It may sound supernatural, but ghost lobsters are real (but incredibly rare) creatures.  They seem to be the product of a condition called leucism, in which the vast majority of their pigmentation is absent.  As a result, their shells are a ghostly white, with the faint tint of color that only enhances their spectral looks.

Varying sources claim that the odds of finding a lobster with leucism are about 100 million to one, though obviously that's just a guess.  It is fair to say that the odds of one surviving in the wild for long are terrible though, since their pearly sheen would be awful camouflage amidst the rocks!

The Sacred Red Prawns of Vatulele

Fiji has a tragic tale in which prawns are the only participants with a happy ending.  The story begins with a chieftain's daughter called Yalewan-ni-Cagi-Bula (Maiden-of-the-Fair-Wind) who, despite her outward beauty, had a bitter heart.  Plenty of suitors sought her hand, but all were turned away.

Eventually, the son of a high ranking chief from Viti Levu set out to woo Yalewan-ni-Cagi-Bula.  He traveled to Vatulele with an impressive array of gifts, including fine giant red prawns (Ura-Buta) wrapped in leaves and cooked in a coconut milk sauce.

Unfortunately for her would-be beau, Yalewan-ni-Cagi-Bula was enraged by the gifts - she had her attendants pick up the hapless man and hurl him from the cliffs - and as he fell, the prawns slipped from his hands to land in a sheltered, waterfall-fed rockpool below.

Legend has it that the prawns sprang back to life at the touch of the water, while the leaves they were wrapped in took root and established themselves nearby.  The crustaceans can still be seen today and are considered sacred by the islanders - interfering with the prawns is said to curse the meddler and lead to them to being shipwrecked!

Crayfish are credited with making the land... (BARBARA808)

Crayfish and the Acadians

Another bit of folklore from America bridges the gap between lobsters and crayfish.  The story goes that the lobsters of Acadia (a coastal colony of French settlers dating back to the 17th century) were oddly fond of their human guests.  When the Acadians were driven out by Great Britain, the local lobsters followed them all the way along the coast until they reached the bayous of Louisiana.

So how does this legend explain the differences between a lobster and a crayfish?  Well, the journey was pretty arduous for the crustaceans, causing them to lose so much weight that they shrank to their current size!

Chemtatrawta - a Crustacean Chain Reaction

The Mizo people have a comedic (if fairly crude) explanation for the way prawns look.  It all begins with a man sharpening a sword by the stream bank... only for a prawn to pinch his testicles.  

Reacting angrily, the man slashed a nearby creeping vine, which dropped a gourd on a jungle fowl.  The upset fowl destroyed an anthill, the ants bit a wild pig on the privates, the pig tore up a banana plant (that happened to be the home of a bat) and the bat flew up the trunk of an elephant.  The elephant smashed the hut of a widow... and the widow dirtied the waters of the stream used by all the villagers in protest.

When the villagers complained, the headman asked the widow why she'd dirtied the stream, only for her to blame the elephant.... who blamed the bat and so on.  Eventually the headman came to the prawn, who had no excuse.  Instead, the prawn attempted to distract the villagers.  He said that if they put him near fire he would turn red, and when they put him in water he would turn white.  Out of curiosity, the villagers took the prawn up on his suggestion - and while he turned red near the flames, when placed in the stream he revived and swam for his life.  The villagers didn't give up the chase easily though, and jabbed sticks and leaves into the rocks where he'd hidden - which is why the prawn's face is so strange!

Crayfish Cures

Curiously, crayfish get a mention in medieval medicine.  Preparations made from crayfish gastroliths (little calcium-rich "beads" found in the stomach) joined compounds made from whole burned crayfish and, for the less adventurous, simply eating the boiled crustacean as a dietary supplement.

Interestingly, there may actually be something to this idea.  Crayfish create gastroliths to bank calcium, since they'll need it to produce a new shell when they molt.  These gastroliths have been used as folk remedies for everything between syphilis and the plague... and modern researchers have started investigating their potential for use in modern medicine - for example, a study found that consuming crushed crayfish gastroliths improved bone healing in mice.

Well suited for the role of an evil advisor... (Dear Sunflower)

The Sea-Dwelling Samurai

There's a Japanese story from 1791 called Tatsu no miyako sentakubanashi: imotako no yurai (or Tales from the Dragon Palace: The Origin of Imotako.)  The subject matter?  How intrigue in the undersea palace of Dragon King Ryūō VII led to the octopus-and-taro dish Imotako.  Central to the tale is a cuttlefish-doctor, a treacherous octopus-advisor and a loyal lobster-samurai named Ise Ebizō (a pun based on the Japanese name for a spiny lobster "ise-ebi" and traditional kabuki actor name "Ichikawa Ebizō.")

The story goes that Ise Ebizō had faithfully served Dragon-King Ryūō VII at his palace (Ryūgū) and one day spoke out about the schemes of an octopus who was his the king's closest advisor... but his accusations fell on deaf ears.  The octopus retaliated by convincing Ryūō VII to banish Ise Ebizō from his court.

Eventually Ryūō VII fell ill, and his court doctor determined that a medicine made with the liver of a live monkey would save his sovereign's life.  The dragon king his trusted octopus to retrieve the liver, but the cephalopod wasn't able to obtain the desired organ.  Rather than admit failure, he presented the court with a taro root and claimed that the liver had transformed into it after being removed from the monkey.  Without the real liver, the medicine failed and Ryūō VII perished.

Sensing a growing hostility from the court of Ryūō VIII, the octopus fled and began raising an army of sharks and whales, intending to lay siege to his former home... but in the interim, the loyalty of Ise Ebizō had been remembered and the lobster samurai's status at Ryūgū restored.  Realizing the threat posed by the treacherous octopus, Ise Ebizō appealed to his greed and vanity by offering the cephalopod recognition and rewards for his past services - an offer that lured the octopus back to the court. 

When the octopus reached Ryūgū, he found that the floor had been covered in ash, stopping him from gripping and preventing any attempt to flee.  Ise Ebizō stepped forwards and challenged the octopus, slicing-and-dicing him into pieces!

Thanks for reading - for more watery wonders, try...

• Crustacean Priests, Tide-Makers and Shadow-Eaters: 9 Pinches of Crab Folklore
• Can These 3 Giant Catfish Eat Humans?
• 12 of the Weirdest Rays and Sharks From Earth’s History