Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-06-16

by Mr.. Richard Rathbun. giving an account
of the experiments BY the fish commission IN
lobster culture in 1885. The Mcdonald hatch
ing jar was used 10 those experiments. The
Jas of the pattern used in hafching cod we're
applied this spring TO the lobster Matching,
and the results have been of the utmost inn
portance. These jars provide sort OF tidal
motion in the water, gentle rise and fall.
II is believed that jars constructed and oper-
atsd on the principle Of the cod-hatching jar
will be applicable to all sea fishes. Already
the jars have been used with success 10 hatch
ing mackerei and tautog. The extent of lob
ster Matching is limited only by the number OF
| jars at Woods Hol. There are twenty-four jars
now in operation there, and 50. 900 eggs could
be harched at time in each jar 1t was expect
ed soon to have ninety-six Jars in operation
The fishermen in the neighborhood are bring
| ing to Woods Holl large supplies of female
Holsters with eggs, but most Of them are
declined as the station has not yet the facili-
ties for handling them. The eggs which pro-
duced the brood from which the oO0 young
Holsters sent here were taken were put into
the jars about Nav |, and began Matching
about May IL. The Matching period seems to
be variable. Observations indicate that the
Matching season begiss about the middle OF
May and continues for about two months, or
two months and a half. The conditions
under which the young Holsters enter lie
make it imprscticable to transport them over
land any great distance. They must be kept
10 salt water and have constant changes OF
water, else they die. They can, it is thought,
be transported easily in vessels along the
coast for stocking purposes.
Experiments have, however, been made
with apparatus for transporting adult Holsters,
the results of which, considered in the same
connection, are hardly less important than
those of the Matching experiments. 1t has
been shown that the adults carrying eggs can
be safely taken across the continent TO
the Pacific coast, where the eggs can
there be hatched in any number
desired. The Pacific slope has no lobster
worth speaking of IL is probable that one
or two car loads of Holsters bearing eggs will
be shipped to the Pacific this season with the
view of planting the young on the California
coast and in Puget sound.
The necessity of attempting the artificial
propagation of Holsters has been manifest for
long time. II is not improbable that the
lobster would have soon almost entirely dis
appeared from our coast if some means were
not found for keeping up the supply. The
number as well as the average sze Of the
lobster has been rapidly decreasing from
year to year on many portions of the coast.
sort of transplantiBg ofyoung Holsters has
been going on along the New England coast,
and especially the southern portion of 1t, ever
since the well smack lobster trade began.
Immense quantities of embryo Holsters APP
pear at the surface of the wells in the carrier
smacks during the hatchiug season, and as
the smacks journey along they work
out through the holes in the bottom of the
WELL and are thus constantly adding to the
supply of the regions through which the
smacks pass.
The young lobster when first hatched meas
ures about a third OF an inch in length, and
looks like small shrimp. The eyes are
bright blue, and upon it's body appear marks
of orange and pink. making them very con-
spicuous They are good swimmers during
the first stages of their growth, before their
claws and other awkward appendages are de-
veloped, and indulge in the most extravagant
antics in the water, turning somersaults and
going through other acrobatic feats near the
surface. Nature does not provide them with
any yelow-sac, and the little ones begin
feeding voraci0usly as soon as Matched. If
they are not furnished with proper food they
attack one another with cannibalistic intent
TIE young Holsters in the aquaria at Woods
Holl are fed upon their mothers, who are
chopped up fine for the purpose. In nature
it is supposed that myriads of the little lob
sters upon rising to surface, after leaving the
eggs, are consumed by predaceous fishes.
DR.. Ryder, who is investigating the little
Holsters ia Woods Holl, writes that he has
found among them some curious monstrosi-
ties, such as twins with their heads fused,
central cvclopean eye, and tails separate.
The lobster grows by stages or ''molt." The
first melting, as observed at Woods Holl,
takes place about five days after leaving the
egg.