Patent ID: 7121939

Claim:
A utensil configured for opening a shellfish shell, comprising: a blade including spaced apart longitudinal edges, wherein a first one of said longitudinal edges is generally blunt, wherein a second one of said longitudinal edges is at least one of sharpened and serrated and wherein a tip end of the blade is substantially non-pointed; and a shell-slitting tine attached to the blade adjacent the tip end of the blade, wherein a slot extends between the shell-slitting tine and the blade from a tip end of the blade, wherein the slot extends generally parallel with a centerline reference axis of the blade, wherein the slot is positioned between the centerline reference axis of the blade and the first one of said longitudinal edges, wherein a tip end of the shell-slitting tine extends not more than even with the tip end of the blade, and wherein at least a portion of an edge of the shell-slitting tine exposed within the slot is sharpened.