SYDNEY, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Christmas is celebrated a little differently in Australia, with the nation enjoying a rich diversity of seafood, alongside, or even in place of, the traditional Christmas turkey.
A desire for the freshest catch meant that on Monday and Tuesday before Christmas, giant crowds flocked to Sydney's iconic fish markets to gather the final trimmings for their big day.
Monday saw a record amount of seafood sold at auction for the markets, with 1.4 million Australian dollars (968,520 U.S. dollars) of fresh catch going under the hammer.
More than 130 tonnes of prawns were tipped to be sold over the 36-hour "Seafood Marathon," which drew an estimated 100,000 people, and ran from 5 a.m. on Monday until 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
"Prawns and oysters have proven to be crowd favourites again this year. We've had a bumper season and customers can expect plenty of variety with a prawn on offer for every taste and budget," Sydney Fish Market CEO Greg Dyer said on Tuesday.
Sydney Fish Market is the largest market of its kind in the southern hemisphere and the third largest seafood market in terms of variety in the world, with Christmas it's busiest period.
"The increase in sales at the auction demonstrates a growing popularity of seafood at Christmas as people diversify beyond traditional hot meals such as roast turkey, roast pork and even ham," Dyer said.
Crustaceans were an overwhelming crowd favourite, from prawns and blue swimmer crab, all the way to rock lobster and king crab, which can fetch up to 200 Australian dollars (138 U.S. dollars) per kilogram.
