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Perlemoen
| In Gansbaai perlemoen is a very popular item of seafood. The creature
that inhabits the rounded, flattish shell is a vegetarian sea snail with
an extremely broad, muscular 'foot'. This foot anchors the snail to the
rocks and enables it to withstand the strong buffeting of the
waves.Perlemoen are found among most rocky reefs. The feed mostly on
seaweed, which they trap in a remarkable way.The front end of the 'foot'
is marginally raised, and when a piece of seaweed drifts underneath, the
foot clamps down on it. The shell of a perlemoen grows to a length of 200
mm. The outside, which is covered in irregular ridges radiating from the
slightly raised apex, ranges from purplish brown to grey. The inside is
iridescent mother-of-perl. The word 'perlemoen' is a coruption of the
Afrikaans word perlemoer meaning mother-of-perl. Perlemoen are
slow-growing animals. Eight years elapse before they start reproducing,
and after another four years they reach the minimum size(115 mm) at which
they may legally be culled.
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