Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-10-16
FACTS ABOUT KING CRABS.
A Fish Commission Bulletin on
Curious Industry.

A report on tho horseshoe crab fishery
Of Delaware Bay has been issued by the
United States fish commission.
According to this authority it is only
in Delaware bay that the capture Of
horseshoe crabs can be sold to constitute
well-defned industry, employing spec
ial forms Of apparatus, although all afong
the Atlantic seaboard from Massa-
chusetts to Florida small numbers of the
animals are taken and utilized for feri-
LIKING and other purposes. In that
neighbourhood the fishery in question is
of very considerable consequence, mas
much as its products contributes most
efficiently to the enrichment of land that
has been exhausted Of it's natural vitality
by cropping. The crabs are also largely
used as food for hogs, and, fed to
chickens, they arc believed to stimulate
egg laying surprisingly. Although they
are not commonly thought available for
human consumption many persons over
that they are exceedingly palatable when
steamed.
The horseshoe, or king" crab, as it
is sometimes called. is very interesting
creature, if only for the reason that it SO
closely resembles, being in fact nearly
related to, the most ancient known
crustaceans, called "trilobites," which
ure found so plentifully in fossil shape,
beautifully preserved in geological de-
posits fifty millions of years old and
more. These trilobites were the ances-
tors Of all the crabs and Holsters of TO-
day. The king crabs are sluggish an
ilnals, spending the grcater part Of their
existence imbcdded in the muddy or
sandy bottom. During the cold months
they retire to deep water, and it is only
at the breeding season that they APP
proach the shore and are found in the
shadows. This season in Delaware BAY
is from May to july 1.
1t appears that the abundance of
time during the breeding season depends
largely on the tides, the influence of
WI oh upon the movements of the ami
ma is well recognized in the business
of catching them. When the moon is
full the greatest numbers arc taken.
Wind also has an effect, n westerly
breeze bringing them in abundantly on
the New Jersey coast, while II blow from
the east is most favorable to the fishery
on the Delaware side.
About 100000 horseshoe crabs were
captured last year in Delaware bay, most
of them being taken in pound nets and
weirs constructed for the purpose. Some
times single net has been known to en-
trap 1000 in a tide, or 10000 in sea
son, but the number caught annually is
rapidly falling off, because the fishery is
prosecuted in the spawning season, most
of 'he victims being gathered in before
the eggs have been deposited. The yield
of 1880 was 4.30O,O0O crabs, more than
twice that Of 1890. 1t seems likely that
before very long the industry will on this
account cease to be profitable.
Then the use of destructive forms of
may be discontinued, 80 that
the crabs will have chance to multiply
unrestrictedly for few years Last
year only 275 600 of the crabs were taken
on the Delaware shore, against 900. COO
in 1880, although no traps or nets are
used on that side. The fishing there is
confined to the waters edge and the
shadows, being carried on with boats
and wagons; but the defamation of the
species on the Jersey side of the bay is
accountable for the decrease
Three factories for transforming horse
shoe crabs into fertilizer are in operation
on Delaware bay. The usual method is
to dry them in furnace, grind them in
a steam mill and mix the product
with sodium sulphatc. Some of the
material thus prepared is sold directly
to farmers and the rest goes to dealers in
fertilizers, who subject it to further
treatment 1t is known commercially as
"cancerine" and fetches from 81 to IS II
thousand pounds Washington Star.