The tiny, colourful seashells, or oc ruoc in Vietnamese, become part of the cuisine of Da Nang. The colorful shells retain their beauty after being boiled, with all the intricate texture.

The seasons for catching these little snails are the end of spring and in early summer. Oc ruoc can be found washed up on Da Nang’s beaches. However, fishermen need go far from the coast of Da Nang to use the nets to catch large quantities of the tinny snails.

Fishermen in Da Nang often net bumper hauls of tiny sea snails between 1st and 3rd lunar months.

Long bamboo rakes attached with small fishing nets are used to scrape these little snails.

The scraping of these little snails starts at around 5am or 6am when the tide is ebbing.

Fishermen need go far from the coast of Da Nang to use nets to catch large quantities of the tinny snails from the seabed.

This species of sea snails usually hides themselves under sand seabeds, so fishermen must immerse themselves in water for many hours.

Each of fishermen can scrape between 30 and 40 kilos per day

A fisherman soaking sea snails in water for a long time to clean sand off snails

Tiny and colourful sea sails

Each can of cooked snails is being sold at the prices between 25,000 VND and 30,000 VND

 By TRUONG KY, THANH HA - Translated by MAI DUNG