Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-05-01
ENEMIES OF THE OYSTER.
How the StarfiSh and other Pests
Destroy the Bivalves.

oyster?" asked the older man of the
younger. who evidently didn't under
stand the question. for he replied:
mo, can't say rs ever did"
''Well, then, you've missed some
thing. They're the most destructive
creatures you ever put eyes on"
The reporter, who only caught this
scrap of the conversation, paid visit
ter dealer, who explained fully the
willy, wicked ways of the ''star."
The term ''star" is only one of the
nicknames given 4 kind of star fish,
one of the oysters most deadly enc
mics. Mr.. Covington furnished des-
cription of the star fish.
From the central disk of small di-
mansions radiate five pointed arms,
very strong and tough. In the center
of the under side of the disk is the
opening for the mouth, which contains
no teeth, but is surrounded by an elias
tic tube and guarded by the edges of
the armor plates which hem it in.
From the center run five burrows, one
down each of the arms. The stomach,
which itself is not very large, has five
annexes or pouches extending down
each arm.
This large internal capacity explains
the gluttony of which the star fish is
capable on occasions. The destruct-
iveness of these voracious pests has
been long recognized alike by natural
lists and fishermen, and many years
ago the English Admiralty Court laid
penalties on oyster fishers who did not
destroy all the star fish they drew up,
because that fish gets into the oysters
when they gap and sucks them out"
The idea that the ''star secures his
meal of oysters by strategy still pre-
walls among those Oystermel who have
little knowledge of natural history.
One of these latter thus describes the
mode of the 'star's" attack.
"CraWling around on the bottom the
star accidentally gets foul of bed of
oysters. He don't know what they are
mebbe, layin' in their shells all a-gap-
in open like oysters does. He pokes
about till he accidentally gets the end
of one of his arms into an open shell
and the oyster closes on him. You see
he can't get away, but the oyster can't
live long with his shell open, and in
few hours he is dead. Then he lets up
and the star makes a square meal
often him right on the spot-takes him
on the half she'll in his own gravy"
A similar theory is useful in attempt
ing to explain the numbers of ''stars''
found with an arm missing. The star,
according to this theory, inserts a
tentacle into the open shell for the pur-
pose of whipping out the oyster.
Sometimes he succeeds on the first
trial, but sometimes the proverbially
dumb oyster is too quick for the STAR
and shuts down on him. If the "star''
is not too hungry he waits until the
oyster relaxes. But all ''stars" are
not SO patient and prudent, and very
often the luckless robber gets mad
ard. tearing off the imprisoned arm,
gains freedom at the cost of amputa-
ton.
Modern science and observation have
proven, however, that the "star" is
not so great q fool as his enemies
would make him appear to be. The
true version of the story says that
when the "star" concludes to have
oysters, scollops, or other mollusks
for dinner he goes about getting
them in q very different way. Having
mat his destined victim, he treacher-
ously embraces him, folding all five
arms about the unhappy victim of his
deadly caresses. Protruding the
strong muscular ring about the mouth
of the stomach through the mouth, he
seizes the newly grown edge of the
shell. called the nib or ''bill, " and
breaks it off in bits till an entrance is
made. The burglarious star forces
into the opening thus made the disten-
sible mouth of the stomach and SEXES
upon the body of the oyster within,
which he at once begins to draw into
his stomach. As the process goes on
the stars stomach is pushed farther
and farther into the shell of the oyster,
until, if the oyster is especially large,
the auxiliary pouches are brought into
requisition, and by the time the large
oyster is consumed, the star has prac-
ticalIy turned himself inside out.
These pests have been dredged up
while engaged 1T dinner, with the
stomach hanging out half the length Of
one of the arms. If put into bucket
of salt water he will gradually resume
his normal condition. but if used with
any violence he will throw away his
dinner and straw in his stomach in
stantly. An illustration of the destruc-
tive powers of large numbers of ''stars"
is given in an invasion of Providence
river, Rhode Island. in the latter part
of the summer Of 1858.
They came in great schools and to-
tally destroyed nearly all the beds of
the river, occasioning q loss of nearly
$50, 900 TO the planters. They re-
manned until winter, when heavy fall
of snow and rain so freshened the
water as to kill them all, but the beds
destroyed were not replanted for years
after this dire visitation. Another in
sidious foe of the oyster is the ''drilT'
or ''borer," q mollusk equipped with
ribbon-shaped tongue. which is armed
with teeth. The borer drills hole
through the shell of the oyster, and,
inserting his sucking tube, feeds upon
the oyster at leisure. The drum-tish,
another relentless foe, has what may