The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1891-12-24
OYSTER AND srARFlsH.


OYSTER AND SIAHFtSH.
An rnksreeting Combat That m Observaht
Fishman witnesssd-
TO look at an oyster you would
never imagine that there was any fight
in Il, would your asked the observant
iishman, as he pried open the shell Of
one. mo one would, unless he had
been witness some time to the oysters
fighting qualities One Of the most en-
citing contests ever saw was between
an oyster and one Of its most deadly
enemies, and am glad to say that the
oyster won the fight The enemy was
! starfish. and II all Of It's kind were -
fresh and indiscreet as this one was.
they wouldn't be such source Of
dread to the oyster farmer
Every person who has anything to
do with raising oysters has seen many
. battle between them and starfish.
These destructive enemies Of the oyster
grow fast, but seldom attempt to attack
the bivalves before they are six months
old, and then their inexperiencc gets
them into . heap Of trouble with the
oysters A-starfsh- haA-cnt It's;
cyetceth. so to speak, win get the best
Of an oyster every time, for 1t will
mount the shell, drill hole through IL,
inject its Supplying liquid into the
oyster, and envelope the whole thing
with its capacious and elastic mouth
stomach before the poor shellfish
knows what has happened to it A
school of starfish can go through an
oyster farm almost as quickly as a
tornado can wipe out wheat farm in
Dakota They are virtually walking
stomschs, and have found them
stretched over clans, shell and all. that
were great deal bigger than the star
fish in their natural dimensions When
it envelopes clam or an oyster, the
starfish simply turns itself wrong side
out and pulls itself over the object, as
you would pull on pair of new stock
.ings.
"This fight was speaking about oc-
CURED in shallow water, and l had a
good sight of it / saw the starfsh
working walfly along over thesoyster,
and then settle slowly down upon it.
The bivalve was on the lookout, how
ever, and when the starfish was near
enough the oyster shell closed like q
steel trap on one Of the starfish's FIVE
rays, and cut it off as slick as If it had
been done with a knife. A starfish
doesn't mind the loss of ray or two;
in fact, it can stand the loss of four Of
its rays. and then go off and in short
time sprout and grow the lost members
again. But il the fish loses all five Of
its rays its doom is sealed. It will die
almost Immediately.
''The oyster had no sooner clipped
off one of its foes legs than it set its
trap again and awaited a renewal of
the attack, which was not long in COM
ing. The starfish dropped itself slow
", and with confidence that could
almost see, and was soon astride of the
oyster again. Again the the trap flew
shut, and the starfish arose with only
three of his five rays left. But the
starfish was plucky, and returned for
the third round with confidence appar-
emily not the least impaired The
round was repetition of the other two
and the starfish was bereft of another
leg. The persistent enemy of the oys-
ter had apparently set his mind on
having that particular biyalye, and
without moments hesitation turned
his crippled bocy to the assault The
oyster was mad all the way through,
and shifted its position, turning its
open shell upward as. the starfish
dropped down toward him. This was
the last round of the battle, for the
oyster caught both remaining rays of
the starfsh in the trap and shipped
them off atone bite. The rayless star
fish turned over and sank to the bot
tom, dead. 80
ANY man, by the way, who can hit
on some practical plan that will rid the
oyster beds of starfish. or even hold
their ravages in check, may be sure of
the biggest fortune there is in this
country. The methods now in vogue
to destroy this enemy Of the oyster are
now slow, tedious and unsatisfactory.
The starfish have not appeared in such
large numbers this season us they did
last season and the one before. but
they are numerous enough, and the
farmers boiled good many thousand
of them last month. This is the best
way to get rid of them yet found. They
are dredged up with the oysters and
steamed to death."-N Y. Sun.