Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18
Oysters and Star-Fish.
New Haven journal.


a business here, few words about the
oysters most dreaded and deadly foe,
g the star-fish, will be appropriate, and
we have gathered from authentic sources
the following tolerably reliable informa-
/ ton on the subject: The star-tish de-
stroys and deyours the oyster eagerly
/ The star-fish is well armed, having five
! of those useful members, and to make
matters worse for the oyster has an eye
on the end of each arm. 1t Is also fur
nished with hundreds of small legs and
/ feet. Its mouth is in the centre of the
/ body, and it moves slowly but very
"sure" when after prey. 1t can propel
itself over rough surfaces and into all
hooks and crevices, and Is generally
found near rocks, upon which they
fasten. If one of his arms becomes
broken in any way, as by getting en-
tangled in a crevice of a rock, or having
/ it bitten off by a voracious fish, deter
mined upon making havoc of this par
ticular star, the deficiency is soon rem
edied: as another arm grows, which
replaces the missing member. Some
species of the star-tish possess the power
Of dematerializing or breaking itself in
pieces, and thus multiplying its kind, as
each piece retains its vitality and grows
into a perfect specimen of the tribe
again The star-tish is a sociable ami
NAL. 1t generally travels in schools"
or mass-meetings, when doubtless,
schemes for raids on the unsuspecting
! oysters are devised and nefarious infor-
nation and ideas interchanged. When
he is hungry he gets outside of dinner
by, as it were, turning himself inside
out, a novel process, not to be recon-
mended to the genus homo as a means
of appeasing appetite. He turns his
stomach out of his mouth and envelops
the morsel to be engulphed. The star
/ fish are set down by scientific men as a
mere walking stomach" being ire
mendous COMMANDERS of sea-food.
They are particularly fond of oysters,
and when the presence OF fine bivalve
is discovered nothing can exceed 1t in
| lively appreciation of the mOrsel, not
even an American at a clam-bake In
our harbor and Immediately adjacent
waters our oyster culturiStS are not
troubled with the star-fish seriously as
yet, but in Norwalk and vicinity it is
said that they have become such a pest
as to awaken no little concern and ap-
| prehension, and our oyster culturists
watch with dread their appearance in
plentiful numbers in our waters. Though
travelling in schools, single ones are often
| found, apparently meditative and mo-
rose, and bent on forming a new admin
/ istration of affairs. 1t is said that a
number of them often roll together and
float with the tide, and, when in this
condition, are often half seas over"
A school of star-fish will settle down on
an oyster-bed, and then settle right down
to business. They will completely de-
stroy the bed in short time Each
star-fsh will close upon its particular
oyster, clasp it in It's numerous arms,
and wait for it to open its mouth Ia
solemn warning to be close-mouthed),
when the star-fish turns his stomach in
side out over the oyster and sucks out
the entire living substance. In this way
they will destroy acres of oysters in a
very little while, a spectacle which the
culturist beholds with anything but
cheerful emotions. Owing to their raw
enous nature they are truly the bane of
the oyster culturist The star-fish will
cling to a rock so tenaciously as to lose
its small legs Tor feet rather than loosen
his hold, wherein he resembles some of
the human species devoted to a particu-
lar idea. They also eat fish when they
can get them, and do not refuse other
animal matter, but their destructiveness
principally centres upon the helpless
and tOothsome oysters. 1t viii be seen
that oyster culture is attended, like all
other business, with hopes and disap-
pointments, and is not business that q
sinecurist would devotedly covet The
utilizing of mud bottom" for oyster
culture is one of those interesting Yam
kee inventions. The blue mud is COW
cred with light layer of clean sand,
and crust is thereby formed, upon
which, just before the spawning season,
dry oyster shells are spread to catch the
oyster spawn, which, floating about,
finds a lOdgment upon them. If, how
ever, by any unforeseen circumstances,
the spawn does not ''set," the whole la
Dor is lost, and the shells have to be
caught up and the ground cleared for
next season, as the spawn will not read
lily set on shells which have been in the
water one season and thereby become
Shiny. We are told by an old oyster
man in Fair Haven that this season
bears the indications of being one of
those seasons when there is no set in
the harbor; if so, all those shells which
have been spread recently in the harbor
will have to be taken up again.
Another pest of the FISHERMAN is the
drill" as they are called-a small ami
NAL which drills a hole through the
shell of the oyster and sucks out the
life. They are very difficult to find, and
almost impossible to exterminate, and
after once getting into bed of oysters
the whole flat soon becomes worthless.