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Fiji's Mana Mangrove Lobster

Fiji's Mangrove Lobster (Mana)
Thalassina Anomala

If you drive round the main roads of Suva, Fiji’s capital, or the nearby town of Nausori, around Easter time, you will see strings of trussed-up dark-red creatures being held up for sale by the roadside. These are mana, mangrove lobsters (also known as mud lobsters), a famous Fiji delicacy which is particularly plentiful around the mangrove swamps of the Rewa River, on the coast of south-east Viti Levu. They are said to be especially tasty around Easter time, because it is then that the ‘tails’ of the females are full of a compacted mass of yellow eggs.

Mud lobsters are found in India and island south-east Asia and eastwards into the western Pacific, and although they spend most of the time inside their burrows in mangrove swamps, they leave on the surface. They are considered a pest in south-east Asia, because their burrowing undermines earth roads and the walls of prawn and fish ponds, but in Fiji they are a prized delicacy and fetch high prices in local markets.

Mangrove lobsters are found in some extent in all sizeable mangrove swamps in Fiji, even as far as some of the smaller islands of the Lau group. In west Fiji they go by the name tola and in the Rakiraki area of northern Viti Levu and all of Vanau Levu, the name is mena. Despite being found all over the arichipelago, they are only seriously exploited for food in three places: throughout the huge delta of the Rewa River, in south-east Viti Levu, and in Tai and Namalata, two considerably smaller patches of mangrove swamp south and north, respectively, of the Verata peninsula in eastern Viti Levu.

Although there is only one species of mangrove lobster, Fijians distinguish a number of varieties. The batibati, literally ‘the clawed one’, is a male with one claw conspicuously larger than the other, while a male with equal claws is a tata or culaculadi(‘trap-piercer’), and a large blackish male is a manaqomoqomo. The daba is a female mangrove lobster, the dabaleka having a thicker ‘tail’ than the dabamoto. The word also refers to the mass of eggs that are the most prized part of the mangrove lobster.

The mana’s burrow has a mud mound at one end and a pool at the other, which Fijians refer to as its isilisili (bathing pool). At spring tides, the lobster is forced to lie closer to its mound than usual, and Fijians pump the bathing pool exit with the foot to force the inhabitants out of the other exit and catch it. This method of capture, called kucokuco, is practised occasionally in most places where the mangrove lobster is found.

In those areas which specialize in the mana, an ingenious contraption is used which allows them to be trapped regularly. A section of bamboo for sometimes nowadays PVC piping is placed at the mouth of the burrow to form an artificial extension and a sapling bent towards it as a spring. A cord is attached to the sapling and a noose made at the end around the bamboo. Another cord is attached to the sapling and a toggle is tied to the other end and secured by a stick lying against a goal-shaped frame fixed in the mud above the burrow. The bamboo now is carefully removed and the stick thrust downwards into the burrow so that it acts as trigger – when the mana comes up and touches it, it releases the toggle and the sapling flies upwards with the mana noosed around the abdomen. This method of trapping is called tavitavi in the Rewa delta area and vivina in the Verata area.

The humble mangrove lobster is of great historical and cultural significance in the Rewa delta region. Because it recycles the mud, it admits air and oxygenated water, which enrich the soil and encourage growth of mangroves and other trees. Its mounds also continually coalesce and form large banks which expand as alluvium is deposited and eventually become dry land. Thus, the entire delta, which was probably submerged just a few centuries ago, has become habitable through the labours of the mangrove lobster.

There is also the well-known story of how the Rokotui Dreketi, the king of Rewa, was persuaded to move from the mainland to the delta. He has been living in the village of Burebasaga, while his people mainly lived in the mangrove swamps of Rewa, and had become weary of continually crossing the river to serve their chief. So they made a point of taking him the finest mana and other delicacies from the mangrove swamp to eat and finally persuaded him to move across the river to be closer to the source of this delicious food. In commemoration of this event, it is said, the house of the Rokotui Dreketi is called to this day Namana – the mangrove lobster.

$4.00

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