Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1890-12-18
THE OYSTERS FOES.
The Starfish is the Bivalve's Chier
Enemy-Protecting Young oys-

Acn1y ioooctlAS 4ouuS OyS-
tiers.
The chief enemy of the oyster planters
in Long Island Sound and the New York
waters is the starfsh 1t is estimated
that this foe does nearly million dollars
worth of damage to the sound oystcrmen
every year. 1t comes in droves and will
destroy miles of oyster beds in an incre-
dibly short time. Fastening itself upon
the oyster and embracing it with its five
arms, the starfish projects its stomach
out of its body through its mouth and
closes up withlt the opening of the oys-
ter's shell. The victim, suffocated, dies.
and its shell opens, permitting the MUIR
derous creature to dcvour it's body. An
other enemy of the oyster is the spiral
shelled "sdrill, . which bores through the
oyster with its foot that is provided with
rasping teeth for the purpose, subsequent
~ sucking the substance of the soft mol.
lusk out through the opening. Expert
ments have been recently tried by the
fish commission with baited traps de-
signed to attract the starfish in large
numbers, CLANS and dead fish being used
for the lure; but failure was the result.
An apparatus has just been patented for
the catching of stariish by wholesale
with rotating cylinder armed with
sharp teeth, designed to be dragged over
the beds, the teeth transfixing The star
fish and passing them into a receptacle
attached. In former times fishermen
were accustomed to destroy these foes by
plling them up, one upon another, on
the deck of the oyster vessel, tying a
cord around them and pulling it so as to
cut them all in twain, thereupon thsow
ing them overheard. Unfortunately.
the starfsh has the power of reproducing
its parts to great extent, so that each
startish thus cut in half and restored to
its native element very likely became two
startish.
The only way that has thus far been
found effective of contending against the
starfsh, the drill, the Wrinkle and other
enemies of the oyster is to keep watch
full eye upon each bed, periodically tax
ing up all the oysters with the dredge
and putting them back again after weed
ing out Objectionable visitors. Oysters
newly spawned attach themselves oft
times to seaweed in great numbers, and
when the latter decays the baby bivalves
drop thickly upon the bottom, so as to
cover it with a layer of themselves.
Dredgers get 81 or s. bushel for stuff
OF this sort that they collect from the
bottom, because it is all oysters and
nothing else. The reason why cultch has
to be put down as the basis for an oyster
plant is that young oysters must have
something to cling to or else they will
die. One great advantage, by the way,
that Southern oyster planters have over
their competitors in the porth is that
starfsh are not found south of the New
York waters. Much has been published
to the effect that the Long Island Sound
was polluted to such an extent by the
sewage of cities as to be unfit for use as
oyster grounds; but the fish commission
has discovered by careful investigation
during the past summer that the water
OF this great estuary is more pure than
that of many drinking wells. 1t is to
the Southern states, however, that we
shall look in future for the greatest sup
ply of American oysters. = Washington
Star.