UNIQUE CRUSTACEANS, ANYONE??

UNIQUE CRUSTACEANS, ANYONE??
By: Bro. Geminiano V. Galarosa, Jr.
Dagohoy Lodge No 84
(HM- LL 185, JS 169 and RP 147)



“Adis”, that’s how he is called, is twenty years old, married and father of a two-year-old son. Reaching only the elementary grades and not gainfully employed in a place where employment opportunities are as scarce as the college graduates that the town annually produce, and not having relatives from whom the poor guy (no pun intended) can rely for sustenance, he refused to become a mendicant. To eke out a livelihood, he joined a group of ten young adults, three of them married and the rest still single, who call themselves “Kagang Boys”.

For sure they are not the only gatherers of this kind of crabs. There are also others who have banded themselves together while a few operate solo, in search of this unique denizen of the sea that for ages has been made delicacy of the residents of the area. These food gatherers are also unsure whether there also are gatherers in the other seaside towns of the island of Bohol, but as far as they are concerned, they and the others reach as far as the seashore of the town of Anda some ten kilometers away and even the adjacent barangay of Cogtong of the town of Candijay in search of this unique crabs that forage on the edges of the sea.

The technique is simple. These gatherers just dig into the burrows that these crabs have made their homes on the murky seashore. Armed with a bolo and a pail wherewith to accumulate their catch, they trace the winding recesses beneath the soil which are often hidden by living seashore plants that abound in the area. These plants not only serve as effective camouflage but also as shelter from the blistering heat of the noon-day sun thus serving as ideal habitat to these crustaceans. Their t-shirts naturally are soiled with mud and the entire catching process is not clean but definitely is less obnoxious than the work of the metropolitan “poso negro” boys.

But while the digging procedure may not be difficult as the soil generally is soft, getting the crab out of the hole is not easy, for if the hunter is less careful, he may end out getting bitten on the hand by his prey and hurt himself in the process. And it can put him out of commission for several days to allow the wound to heal.

“Kagang” is a local word for a specie of crabs that is noted for its pungent taste which local residents savor during special gatherings. Last year at the feast day of Saint John the Baptist, for example, the relatives of the missus had an outdoor swimming party at the lion den’s backyard and one of the gourmet’s dish that they served was a cauldron full of cooked “kagangs” that they enjoyed with gusto.

These crawling denizens of the sea are spawn by their mothers in swamplands no different from ordinary crabs called “alimango”, with the young living there until they become adults but upon maturity, would retire to the beaches where foliage abounds boring themselves in soft marshy grasslands. It is not uncommon for these crustaceans to occupy holes previously used but later vacated by others, but once inside, would create apartment-like passageways that make it impossible for enemies, hunters included, to locate them. A primary requirement for habitability is its coolness and the softness of the soil to make burrowing easy.

It reaches maturity when it has reaches the size of about 120 grams, which means that eight pieces will weigh a kilo. At adulthood it is no bigger than the standard computer mouse that you use. Like the ordinary crabs and shrimps that are members of the crustacean specie, it is a scavenger that preys on dead faunas to survive.


Its form, like the lodge and the “alimango” is oblong. Its pincher arm is big for its size, which makes its flesh a favorite piece to savor. A kilo costs from thirty-five to forty pesos such that three kilos would generally cost the customer a hundred bucks, which incidentally, is the average daily catch of a gatherer, as generally, these hunters would only do their job during the early morning hours or late in the afternoon when the sun is not radiating its blistering rays

Not sold in the market, connoisseurs would order this crustacean several days in advance and allow it to live for a week to excrete the food it has taken before it is cooked. It is best savored when cooked with coconut milk, pepper, garlic and other spices added to the soup and is said to add to man’s virile sexuality. A local resident who is older than this writer said that this food delicacy is unique in the place- he has already tasted it during his younger days which means that has enjoyed it even before the war years, the second world war, that is. A missionary priest was said to order two kilos weekly without fail until he was transferred by his superiors to far-away Africa, of course, not because of these crabs but because his calling demanded that his presence be there in the place where black people live instead of eating weekly the crawling black inhabitants of the sea. Even the missus said that she was told this delicacy was a special favorite of her great grandmother. But there is no way to check this out; the old woman has been long dead long before the missus was born fifty four years ago!

If someday you would chance to be in Bohol like VW Rosauro “Boy” Rosales who sometimes visit his kin both in Buenavista town and at Tagbilaran City you might dare seek out this exotic food. But personally, I won’t. My conservative taste won’t allow me to taste not even the devilfish, sharks, dolphins and whalesharks and even man’s favorite pet called DOG!!