Do they eat Chilean Seabass (Dissostichus eleginoides) in Chile?

The short answer is “almost never,” but there’s more to it than that.

Fish names are funny things.  Wherever they went, European colonists called the local fish by the names of fish back home in Europe.  So the European perch (genus Perca) gave its name not only to the North American yellow perch, but to over a dozen other fish including the Nile perch and the Chilean percha de boca chica (smallmouth perch).  Similarly “bass,” from Middle English bars (also meaning "perch") became the white bass, the black bass, and lots of kinds of “sea bass” including, of course, the “Chilean Seabass.”  In this case however, it was not homesick colonials, but seafood marketing gurus (the same folks who turned “Slimeheads” into Orange Roughy) that came up with the name.  They evidently thought that neither “Patagonian toothfish,” the species’ official English name, nor any of its Chilean names merluza negra, bacalao austral or bacalao de profundidad (“black hake,” “southern cod,” or “deep sea cod”) would be a plus on US restaurant menus or in supermarket fish cases.

Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides)

Back in Chile restaurant owners were having a similar problem with their fish names.  Many up-scale (and some decidedly mediocre) restaurants provide English translations of their menus, giving sometimes useful and sometimes bizarre names to their dishes.  The most notorious is probably locos con mayo, Chilean abalone with mayonnaise, sometimes translated as “crazies with May.”  One of Chile’s most popular and common fish,  the corvina[1], is called the “corvina drum,” or  “Chilean croaker” in English, but neither “drum” nor “croaker“ is likely to attract English speaking tourists.  So what to call it?

  

 Corvina  (Cilus gilberti)

 Why not “Chilean sea bass?”

Of course the reason “why not” is that many English speaking tourists know that “Chilean sea bass,” AKA Patagonian toothfish, is one of those fish on the AVOID list for the ecologically conscious.  The resulting confusion prompts lots of questions.  And some happy, if mistaken,  consumers.  One visitor wrote “I was able to buy Chilean Sea Bass [at Santiago’s Mercado Central] which retails at $20 a pound in the U.S for under $5 a pound.  Very good stuff.”

I’ve never seen or heard of Patagonian toothfish being served or sold in Santiago or anywhere else in Chile outside of the far south, although there are lots of dishes called “Chilean seabass.”  So, if you are concerned (or thrilled) about eating dishes translated as “Chilean sea bass” in Chile, don’t be.  Unless you happen to be in Chile’s southern-most city, Punta Arenas, you are probably getting corvina.  And if you are in Punta Arenas where several restaurants serve it, it will be called “merluza negra” on the Spanish menu. (But if you do find some in Santiago, let me know.) See comments.

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Meanwhile the story of Chilean seabass/Patagonian toothfish is interesting in its own right. They occur throughout the southern oceans in cool temperate and sub Antarctic waters, from the east and west coasts of Patagonia eastwards through all of the sub Antarctic islands, submarine plateaus and seamounts to south of New Zealand, and probably in the far south Pacific between there and Chile as well.  But since their habitat is in waters from 300 m to over 2000 m (1000 to 6500 feet) deep, they were unknown to science until F. A. Shmitt described and named them in 1898.  And it was not until the 1980s that Chilean fishermen, who had been catching them while fishing for merluza australis/Australis hake, which were becoming scarce, began offering them on the commercial market.[2]

  

 Patagonial toothfish range in blue, Antarctic toothfish range in black

Source:  “Chilean Seabass”[3]

Toothfish had also been appearing as “bycatch” in the nets of trawlers fishing the waters around the South Georgian Islands (SE of the Falkland Islands)  in the 1970s and by the 1990s a fishery for toothfish had developed there as well, followed by Australian and South African fisheries in the southern Indian ocean, and by New Zealand in the Ross sea off Antarctica.

Why? 

The Patagonian toothfishery is a 'gold mine' fishery; it is a premium product, especially on the U.S. and Japanese market where it is sold for up to $30 U.S. per kilo, it is not a cheap product. When you can realize a lot of money from what may only be a few weeks of fishing, then the fishery becomes extremely attractive.[4]

And what makes it so valuable? “Chef’s Resources,” a web site whose “purpose is to provide culinary resources for chefs, foodies, and culinarians” says:

Chilean Sea Bass is “a wonderfully flavored fish with a high oil content which keeps it moist during cooking” and “which gives it a rich, moist, tender flavor profile which melts in your mouth.  It has white flesh with large, tender flakes.”

  

Nutritionally it is similar to salmon in calories, but with about 2/3 the protein and 1.4 times the fat.  (And it's high in mercury; it's recommend that you eat it no more than 3 times a month.)

.   

 Chilean Sea Bass Fillet     Photo: Le Maitre d’ & Sommelier

The add accompanying the photo says: 

 It is a versatile fish which can be cooked with white chocolate or champagne.  Ten, 10 oz. filets sell for $175

So what’s the problem?

There are several:  Only two of its fisheries have been certified as sustainable, toothfish sold as being from those fisheries may or may not be, much of the toothfish sold in the past was harvested illegally and some continue to be illegally caught today, the fishery has been responsible for the deaths of large numbers of sea birds; and it is very dangerous, having resulted in the deaths and injuries to fishermen and the loss of boats.

Sustainability [5]:  The Patagonian toothfish is a large predatory fish that grows up to 2 meters in length, may weigh over 100 kg. and lives up to 50 years.  They live from mid depths to near the bottom in cold southern waters.  They take 6 to 9 years to grow to 70 to 95 cm in length and to become sexually mature.  The Antarctic toothfish (D. mawsoni) which is sometimes caught with and sold as Patagonial toothfish, is slightly smaller and lives further south, but has similar characteristics.

Fisheries scientists have argued that heavy exploitation of slow-growing, low-fecundity deep-sea species is inherently unsustainable. The history of large-scale deep-sea fisheries has been a “boom-and-bust” pattern of rapid development, resource depletion, and very slow recovery. As such species, the two toothfishes would appear to be poor candidates for sustainable large-scale exploitation. Both species of toothfish grow slowly, reach sexual maturity after they reach market size, and live in a fragile ecosystem. All of these factors make them inherently vulnerable to overfishing. It is questionable whether large-scale exploitation of such a species could ever be considered sustainable.[6]

In fact however, two fisheries have now been certified as sustainable; the South Georgia Patagonian toothfish longline fishery and the Ross Sea Toothfish longline fishery are certified as sustainable to the standard of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)[7], although the sustainability of the Ross Sea fishery has been challenged. [8]

Identity:  Toothfish from certified sustainable fisheries have the label at right, but all may not be well.

A [2011] study conducted by molecular geneticist Peter Marko of Clemson University in South Carolina and several colleagues found several irregularities. Posing as consumers, they bought single fillets of MSC-certified toothfish from supermarkets in 10 states across the United States. Then they looked at short genetic markers to identify the species. Three of the 36 fish samples turned out to be tuna, greenling, and mackerel, the researchers report online today [22 August 2011] in Current Biology. When they examined DNA markers of the 33 actual toothfish, five of these fish had markers that differed from those of fish caught near South Georgia Island. All told, 22% of the samples appeared to be something other than MSC-certified toothfish. "I was stunned," Marko says. The trouble with selling consumers something other than what they want is that it can erode trust in the MSC brand, says Gulbrandsen, which is intended to generate profits that lessen the environmental impact of fisheries. [9] [emphasis in original]

Illegal, unregulated and unreported (“IUU”) fishing:  Toothfish is very valuable, they are found in remote seas and historically there was little policing of the fishery, thus it is unsurprising that a great deal of illegal fishing went on in the past, and some continues today. From 1996-7 to 1999-2000 an estimated 49% of toothfish came from IUU fishing.

Australia’s legal catch quota is 2,900 mt/year, but, in 2003, Australian enforcement agencies estimated that 2,000 mt per month were fished illegally from Australian waters. TRAFFIC reports that the illegal fishery is dominated by Spanish owned fishing interests which employ vessels registered through “flag-of-convenience” states, such as Panama,Vanuatu and Belize. The Chilean fishing industry is alleged to be heavily involved in the illegal trade in toothfish. A good deal of illegal fishing is reported from the Indian Ocean sector of the subantarctic, including areas around Heard and MacDonald Islands. Ports known to support offloading of illegally-caught toothfish include Walvis Bay, Namibia ; Port Louis, Mauritius; Montevideo Port, Uruguay; and many ports in southern Chile. [10]

In the last decade policing has improved greatly.  For example:

In February 2002, the Australian navy captured two Russian vessels fishing toothfish illegally off Heard Island. Some of the difficulties of toothfish enforcement are revealed in details of the story. To make the captures, armed Australian troops and fisheries officials were lowered from helicopters onto the Russian vessels in hazardous conditions of extreme cold and rough seas. The Australian enforcement personnel met resistance from the Russian crews.[11]

 Photos:  Uncharted Waters [12]

Thanks to this policing and public awairness, in recent years the IUU catch of toothfish has been dramatically reduced to around 4% of the total catch, according to COLTO (Coalitition of Legal Toothfish Operators). [13] 

  

Bycatch:  Although some toothfish are caught by trawling, the most common method is called “longlining.”

Source: Greenpeace

Photo:  Toothfish fishing 

In this system an 8-12 kilometer main line is anchored to the ocean floor at both ends with marked radio beacons for later recovery. Thousands of baited hooks attached to the main line hang and float at the appropriate depths for toothfish, 800-2,500 metres below the surface.  As these baited hooks are cast from the vessel, albatrosses and other seabirds dive for the bait and swallow it, hook and all and are pulled under the water and drowned.  In addition, losses to killer and sperm whales that eat the catch and frequently become tangled in the lines have averaged 5% of the total catch and up to 100% on some occasions. IUU fishermen have reportedly attacked whales with dynamite.

Fortunately a new longline system has been developed and implemented in Chile that is reported to have virtually eliminated deaths of birds and substantially reduced the loss to whales by 2006.  The extent to which it has been adopted in other fisheries is unknown. [14]

Danger to fishermen and rescue expenses:  Although the toothfishery is not inherently more dangerous than other fisheries, recent incidents in the Ross Sea by unprepared boats or careless crews have cost many lives and great expense.  In December 2010 a South Korean fishing boat capsized in the Ross Sea killing half its 42 man crew, and in December 2011 Sparta, a Russian-flagged vessel that was not ice-strengthened, hit ice that ripped a hole in the ship’s hull and requiring the Royal New Zealand Air Force to drop repair supplies to the crew by plane.  Rescue efforts were hampered by heavy sea ice, with help only coming seven days later by the South Korean icebreaker Araon. Fortunately, the entire crew survived the ordeal.  Another incident occurred on January 11, 2012, when the Korean fishing vessel Jeong Woo 2 experienced a fire on board.  Three crew members died, and several others were injured. [15]

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I’ve never eaten Patagonian toothfish, and although I might try it if I go to where it’s caught by artisanal fishermen (Punta Arenas or Ushuaia in Argentinean Tierra del Fuego),I’m not going to be looking for it in LA or Chicago.  First it’s too damn expensive; and second, I’m not interesting in eating fish from fisheries that may or may not be sustainable. There are plenty of other fish in the sea.  

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[1] “Corvina Drum is a popular fish in South America, but little information exists on its biology, abundance or fishery. They are found from Peru to Chile and around the Galapagos Islands, and are caught by hook and line, longline and gillnets. The abundance of Corvina Drum is not known but their landings have decreased over the past decade. Management is poor overall for Corvina Drum, and essentially the fishery is unregulated. Hook and line fisheries generally cause little habitat damage.”  Blue Ocean Institute, Corvina Drum.  On line at http://www.blueocean.org/seafood/seafood-view?spc_id=267 

[2] Toothfish Fact sheet FAO 78—Chilean EEZ below 47°S. Coalition of Legal Toothfish Operators inc. On line at http://www.colto.org/fisheries/chilean-eez/  and Patgonian Toothfish, Center for Quantatitive Fishery Ecology, Norfolk, Virginia, USA on line at http://www.odu.edu/sci/cqfe/Research/Southern%20Ocean/Patagonian%20toothfish/Patagonian%20toothfish.htm 

[3]Cascorbi, Alice.  2006 (amended 2011) Chilean Seabass, Seafood Watch Seafood Report, Monterey Bay Aquarium.  On line at

[4] Johnson, Genevieve.   Voyage of the Odyssey, Log Transcript.  On line at http://www.pbs.org/odyssey/odyssey/20020326_log_transcript.html

[5] Merriam-Webster defines sustainable as “being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged.” 

[6] Cascorbi 2006. Op. cit.

[7] The MSC is an independent non-profit organization that has developed an environmental standard for sustainable and well managed fisheries.

[8] Seafoos source staff. 2010. Ross Sea certification criticized.  SeaffodNews Environment & Sustainability. On line at http://www.seafoodsource.com/newsarticledetail.aspx?id=8456

[9] Stokstad, Erik.  2011.  'Eco-Friendly' Chilean Sea Bass May Not Be So Green. Science Now.  On line at http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/08/eco-friendly-chilean-sea-bass-ma.html

[10] Cascorbi 2006. Op. cit.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Willock, Anna. 2002  Uncharted Waters:  Implementation Issues And Potential Benefits of Listing Toothfish in Appendix II Of Cites.  Traffic International.  On line at www.traffic.org/species-reports/traffic_species_fish20.pdf

[13] Toothfish fact sheet: The IUU fishery.  COLTO. On line at http://www.colto.org/images/Draft-COLTO-IUU-Fact-Sheet.pdf

[14] Moreno, C.A., R. Castro, L.J. Mújica and P. Reyes. 2008. Significant conservation benefits obtained from the use of a new fishing gear in the chilean patagonian tothfish fishery. CCAMLR Science, Vol. 15: 79–91; Longline fishing, Grenpeace. On line at http://archive.greenpeace.org/oceans/southernoceans/expedition2000/expedition/longline.html; and Patagonian Toothfish.  Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 

[15] Christian, Clair.  2012.  Dying for some fish. National Geographic Daily News. Tuesday, January 24, 2012 on line at http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/01/17/dying-for-some-fish/, and Mussen, Deidre. 2012. Danger and death in the south's cruel seas. The Press. Jan. 12,2012. On line at http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/6255575/Danger-and-death-in-the-souths-cruel-seas

 

Eating Chilean Erizos, Sea Urchins

Like foie gras, egg yolks and pork belly, sea urchins have a lusciousness and weight that make chefs drool. “The mouth-feel is pure cholesterol,” said Michelle Bernstein-Martinez …who helped create a pressed sea urchin sandwich that is legendary in food circles.  She spreads slabs of Cuban bread with soy-ginger-flavored butter, stuffs the bread with sea urchins and presses the sandwich on a hot griddle until crisp and melting. “I eat it all day long — the only problem is that I am eating my profits.  “Escape from the Sushi Bar,” Julia Moskin, New York Times, May 12, 2009. 

Sea urchin sandwich: Flickr, thewanderingeater

In case your experience with sandwiches in Chile has been limited to completos (hot dogs with everything) or ave paltas (chicken with avocado) something a bit more elegant is possible.  Of course you’ll have to make it at home, since the sangüche de erizos has not yet arrived at Santiago restaurants.  But then it won’t cost you $15 plus air fare to New York either.

A bit of history and biology

In spite of the lack of sangüches de erizos, sea urchins have been part of Chilean cuisine for millennia and continue to be popular today.  Their remains are prominent in coastal archaeological sites dating back 11,000 years[1] and were appreciated by the coastal Mapuche, who the Spanish met upon their arrival.  The Spanish had known, eaten and used sea urchins of the Atlantic and Mediterranean medicinally, although I doubt that Chile’s conquistadors, who came mainly from landlocked Extremadura, knew much about them.  Never the less, the young Chilean-Spanish soldier Francisco Núñez de Pineda y  Bascuñán, who was captured and held prisoner by the Mapuche in the 1620s seems to have known enough to have mentioned erizos in his account of his “happy captivity.”

By the 1670’s Chile’s sea urchins were well enough know that Diego de Rosales’ wrote about them in his Historia general de el Reyno de Chile:

Sea urchins are round and flat, and defend themselves not only with their shell, but they also arm themselves with sharp spines, with which they are filled all round.  …Enclosed inside is a meaty substance divided into tongue-like yellow forms… These tongues are soft and very tasty and greatly heat the stomach and easily provoke urination. [2]

Photo: Enrique Pérez E

                                     Loxechinus albus         photo:  Shallow Marine Surveys Group

He also says that they have a little crab inside with which, when food is scarce, “they sustain themselves, they eat them,” and in fact there are species of small pea crabs that are found inside sea urchins in the Caribbean… and perhaps in Chile too.[3] But I don’t think the urchins eat them.

One hundred or so years later, Abate Molina, Jesuit naturalist Juan Ignacio Molina, also wrote abut Chilean sea urchins:

The Echinos or sea urchins are divided into several species, the most notable being the white urchins and the black urchins.  The white ones, Echinus albus, [now Loxechinus albus (Molina, 1782)] are globular, three inches in diameter; they have a white shell and spines and the internal substance, which is extremely delicious, is of a profoundly yellow [amarizllazo] color. …The Chilean Indians call them jupe.

Black urchins, Echinus niger, [now Tetrapygus niger (Molina, 1782)] are oval in shape, somewhat larger than the white ones, and have black spines, shell and eggs; they are called devil’s urchins, and they are never eaten.[4]

The eatable part, the tongue-like yellow substance inside the urchins, is its reproductive organs which produce egg in females and sperm in males.  Both are eaten and are usually called sea urchin roe or corals.[5]  The white sea urchin (called the “Chilean red sea urchin” in the trade), from the near shore waters of Chile and Peru, is one of hundreds of species found in shallow ocean waters world wide. They feed mainly on sea weeds, but can also eat invertebrates like sea cucumbers, mussels, and sponges.  Sea urchin populations sometimes explode, whether from overfishing of their predators (including lobsters, and sea otters) or for unknown reasons, and eat everything eatable on the ocean floor leaving decimated “urchin barrens” behind. 

Once sea urchins had been described by Chile’s great colonial period naturalists, they ceased to exist—at least in writing—until resurrected by foreign visitors who found Chileans’ humble every-day foods interesting.  Their next appearance in literature seems to be in 1878, when Englishwoman Mrs. (Baroness Anna) Brassey saw (but seems not to have eaten) urchins in the Chilean port of Coronel in 1878.  She called them “sea eggs.”

Drawn up by the side of the pier was a picturesque looking market boat full of many sorts of vegetables and sea eggs, with their spines removed, and neatly tied with rushes into parcels of three.  The people seemed to enjoy them raw, in which state they are considered to be most nutritious; and when roasted in their shells or made into omelettes they are a favorite article of food with all classes.[6]

If urchins were a “favorite food with all classes” in the 1870s they have now fallen from favor.  Only 2% of Santiago residents surveyed in 1999 said that they ate urchins “frequently,”[7] but then all seafood consumption has fallen sharply in Chile.  Average per capita consumption in is only 7 Kg. per year. (see Eating Chilean Fish) compared to a world average of 17 Kg. (2008).

 

But some Chileans, mainly from the upper socioeconomic classes, continue to enjoy urchins, usually raw with a green sauce of parsley, onion, lemon juice and a little oil (at right); in a tortilla (omelet) de erizos like the ones Mrs. Brassey saw; or in sauces that adorn other seafood.

Photo:  Boots in the Oven

A few recipes:

The current issue of Paula, Chile’s best known magazine of food, home and style provides an article on urchins, “A Banquet of sea Urchins” including a recipe for a Tortilla de Erizos.

  

Sea urchin sauce is also popular over baked or poached fish, in this case corvina, as in this recipe from the 1911 Chilean cookbook, La negrita Doddi.[8]

Salsa de Erizos

(for corvina)

 In a skillet melt 50 grams [3 ½ T] of butter or lard with 30 grams [¼  cup] of flour and mix until well blended.  Add salt and pepper and 200 ml. of [fish] stock and bring to a boil.  Remove from the shell and rinse some sea urchin tongues and add to the sauce, continuing to stir until it comes to a boil, and then remove from the stove.  Just before serving add 30 grams of butter [2 T], cut into small pieces to melt quickly, and stir gently.  Add a few drops of lemon juice if you wish.

  

And from the same period, here’s a recipe for a Sea Urchin Soup (caldillo) from the magazine Familia of August, 1912.[9]

Caldillo de Erizos

Fry a little flour in butter and color [paprika or ground chili], add onion cut in plumas (sliced vertically) and the urchin tongues, and cover with the liquid from the urchins and when hot add oregano, cumin, salt and pepper.  Allow to boil a little while.  Then add an egg beaten with milk and lemon juice.  Serve with slices of toast.

A little history, a few recipes; that’s about all there is to say about Chilean sea urchins…. Or is it?

Globalization 

Chile’s sea urchin fisheries are the largest in the world and have been contributing more than 50% of the world’s production since the mid-1990s.  "Sea Urchin Fishery Profiles," 2006[10]

 Impetus for this development was not that Chileans suddenly renewed their taste for this traditional product; it was the Japanese.  Fresh sea urchins roe, uni, eaten raw as sushi or sashimi is among the most desirable foods in Japan, and the Japanese are the world’s major importers and consumers of sea urchins, importing 246 million dollars worth in 2002.

 Uni sushi in two colors:  Photo 徒然日記

Japan was the also world’s largest harvester of sea urchins until 1984. But since the 1970s Japanese harvests have declined steadily, due mainly to sea urchins’ declining abundance. The 2002harvest of 13,000 metric tons (mt) was less than half of the record landings of 1969. In 1985 the Chilean harvest surpassed that of Japan and since 1987 harvests in both Chile and the United States have exceeded Japanese landings.

Japanese imports increased tenfold from 1,779 mt ($20 million) in 1975 to 18,535 mt ($246 million) in 2002 when they supplied 88% of consumption.  Roe prices have fluctuated from 1986 to 2002 depending on supply, with Japanese roe ranging from about 7,500 to 13,000 yen/kg and imported roe selling for from 5,200 to 6,700 yen/kg in Tokyo’s central wholesale market.  Meanwhile, the Japanese yen has surged against the US dollar so that average 1986 import prices of 6786 yen/kg had a value of $33/kg and average 2002 import prices of 5278 yen/kg equaled $42/kg.[11] 

So Chile became the world’s major exporter of sea urchins.

Before about 1975 Chilean sea urchins were at best a minor element in Chile’s fishery, mostly collected by artisanal fishermen and their families wading in the surf zone of rocky shorelines during a few days each year with low tides and calm waters.  The annual harvest was only a few thousand mt that were sold locally, but by 1975 the harvest had grown to 10,000 tons and reached 60,000 tons in 1992, the peak year.  Remarkably, the Chilean catch seems to be sustainable—at least for now; it has been between 40 and 60,000 mt since the mid 1990s. [12]

Today, Chile’s erizo fishery is dominated by owners of lanchas de accarreo, carrier vessels, and small boat operators who work for them.  The carrier vessels are 60 to 80 foot boats that guide, supply and collect the catch from fleets of a dozen or so faenas, small dive boats. The “hookah” divers who do the actual collecting are supplied with air through compressors and tubing, and harvest about 1000 lbs a day in 3 to 5 hours of diving. The crews of the faenas live on their boats for months at a time while harvesting the surrounding area.  The carriers make almost daily roundtrips from the collecting areas, in the islands south of Chiloe Island, back to their home port of Quellon.

Dive boat with larger carrier (?) in the background  photo: German Henriquez

The carrier boats receive (as of 2007) about 240 centavos per kg. ($.48 US) of which about 70% goes to the divers.  These urchins go to local processing plants where they are cleaned and shipped onward to be frozen for export to Japan.  Local divers whose fresh whole erizos sell in local markets receive up to 1,000 pesos a kg.[13]

  

Sea urchin processing in Quellon, Chiloé island. (Photo:  Proa)

  

By the time fresh urchins arrive in Santiago, the sell for 7-800 Chilean pesos each, about $1.35 to $1.50 each.  By comparison in US you would pay $8 to $15 per urchin.  And who knows what in Japan.  I’ll eat mine here.

 

Sea urchins, Mercado Central,

Santiago

Photo: Chile con Karen

  

But if you can’t get to the Mercado Central, Sea urchins are on sale via the Internet.  Those bellow from Catalina Offshore products are sold at about as good a price as you will find and are from California where they are hand-harvested by divers.

  

Sea urchins are also available from Maine where they are harvested by dredging, a method that is not sustainable and has a by-catch of everything on the bottom.  Monterey Bay aquarium’s Seafood watch recommends that you avoid sea urchins from Mane.

Should you try them?  Perhaps quote from Julio Camba (1882-1962) Spanish journalist, writer and gourmand will encourage you.

 And, by the way:  If you are rich enough to worry about getting fat from eating sea urchins, you’re okay.  They have only 145 calories per 100 gm.  But don’t eat too many, they are high in cholesterol.

And for other Chilean seafood, see these links:

Fish

Salmon

Mussels

Locos, Chilean “abalone” 

Jibia,  Humbolt Squid
Machas, Surf Clams
Chilean Seabass (AKA Patagonian Toothfish)

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[1] Alfaro, Silvia y Claudia Solervicens. ND. Prehistoria del Valle de Choapa. Codelco, ReCrea - Servicios Editoriales y Educativos Ltda.  On line at https://www.codelcoeduca.cl/Chalinga.pdf

[2] Rosales, Diego de. 1877. Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna. ed. Historia general de el Reyno de Chile: Flandes Indiano (1425-1553). I. Valparaíso, Chile: Imprenta i Libreria del Mercurio. P. 304  All translations mine.

[3] Pea crab. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  On line at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pea_crab.  And thanks to the erudite members of WordReverence.com’s forum who helped me translate this quotation and knew that pea crabs live inside urchins.

[4] Molina, Juan Ignacio. 1987. Ensayo sobre la historia natural de Chile : Bolonia 1810 Santiago : Eds. Maule. p. 219.

[5] Sea urchin. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  On line at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_urchin

[6] Mrs. (Ann) Brassey. 1881. A Voyage in the Sunbeam, our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months.  Chicago: Belford, Clarke & Co. p.159.

[7] Soong, Roland. 2000. Eating Seafood in Chile.  Zona Latina.  On line at http://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata102.htm

[8] Lawe.  1911 La negrita Doddy : nuevo libro de cocina, enseñanza completa de la cocina casera i parte de la gran cocina : con un apéndice de recetas útiles i de los deberes de una dueña de casa. Santiago : Soc. Impr. y Litogr., Universo. p. 28. On line at http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/documentodetalle.asp?id=MC0012281

[9] Menoria Chelina.  2009 Para chuparse los dedos: Recetas de familia. On line at http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/documento_detalle.asp?id=MC0052710

[10] Sea Urchin Fishery Profiles:  A background document produced by Explorations Unlimited Inc. Pacific Urchin Harvesters Association/West Coast Green Urchin Association. p. 45  On line at http://www.puha.org/assets/resources/SeaUrchinBenchmarks2005_Backgrounder.pdf

[11] Sonu, Sunee C. 2003. The Japanese Sea Urchin Market. NOAA Technical Memorandum (NMFS N OM-TM - N M FS-S W R-040).  On line at http://www.d-dpacificfisheries.com/NOAA-Japanese%20RSU%20Fishery%20Report%20Nov%202003.pdf

[12] Molyneaux, Paul. 2007 Sustainable Sea Urchins in Chile:  A Rep[ort for the SUZC,  http://www.maine.gov/dmr/rm/seaurchin/molyneaux.pdf

[13] Ibid.