St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1891-12-19
OYSTER AND srARFIsH.

4 80
ITO look at m oyster You woul,
never imagine that there was any 6gh
II IL would you?' asked the observan
> Ashnau, ~ hepried open the she'll o
one. s"N0 ono would, unless he hal
been . witness some time TO the OYSTER
dghtnR qpalitieA One Of the most ex
citing contests ever saw was betweel
oh oyster and one of its most deadly
enemies. and I am glad to say that thl
.-oyster won the fight The enemy va
. starAsh. and II Ill Of its kind were .,
frssh and indiscreet as this one was
<Hey wouldn't. be such . source o,
dread to the oyster farmer.
"EveV tpeyson who has anything "a
Do with rAistne oysters has seen many
q, battle between them and stariish.
These kdestfuctive enemies Of the oyster
:gaOw flyt. but seldom attempt TO attack
The hiss@ves befsee they are six months
eld.' apd, than their inexperiencs gets
them into . heap Of trouble with the
oysterA A starlish that has cut its
,eyeteeth. 60 to speak. will get the best
df an oyster every time. for it will
mount the shell, drill q hole through it
tpjeet it, stnpefyiug liquid into the
oyster, and envelope the whole thing
with It's ealscious and elastic mouth
stomach before the poor shellfsh
&nows what has happened to it A
school Of Earfish can 60 through an
oyster farm. almost - quickly Is .
tornado can wipe out y heat farm in
Dakota They are virtually walking
stomacha. and Il have found them
strctched.osef CLAIMS, shell and al. that
were s'great deal bigger than the star
fish In their natural Dimensions When
It envelopes clam or IN oyster. the
star6sh Giaply turns itself wrong side
ont endPulls itself over the objec. q
you would tuN on . pair Of new stock
inRA iE - =
SThis fight l was speaking about oc-
cuFredin. shallow water, and had .
eOod leighe sof it I saw tho starfish
working wayily- along over tho oyster.
Apd then settle slowly down upon it
The bivalve was On the lookout how
ever. and when the. starfish was near
enough the oyster she'll closed like q
stool Gap Cd dne Of the stariish's i've
rays. and cut Il on q slick as il II had
been. done. with q knife. A starfish
6oesu't mind the loss Of . ray or two;
In fact II can stand the loss Of four of
its rays and then 60 Oh and in short
time sprout and grow the lost members
again But 4 { l. fish loses. all Eve Of
IT, rags its doom 10 sealed. 1t will die
alnost44medistely: =.
:'The oyster had NO. sooner clipped
o6 one -of its foes legs Than 1t set its
trap again and awaited .. renewal Of
tho attack, which was not long in COM
Ing. The starfish. dropped itself slow.
y, and. with . confidence that could
almpst see.-snd was soon astride Of the
ovster 'sgain.' Again the the trap dew
shut and the starfish arose with only
tbree Of his i've rays left But the
star6sh was pluckv, and returned fnr
Ehe. third round with confidence appar.
.utly not the least impaired The
so~nd was = repetition of the other two
md the star6sh was bereft of another
e. The persistent enemy Of tho oys-
ef had apparently. set his mind on
'aviqg that particular bivalve. and
WITHOUT . moments hesitation turned
lis crippled body to the assault The
,ystor wss mad al the way through,
md shifted its position, turning its |
pen shell upward as the stsrfish |
|ropped down toward him. This was
he last round .Qf the battle. for the
yster caught both remaiping rays of |
he starfish in tbe trsp and shipped
hem OF 1t ono bite. The rayless star.
lsh turned oyer and sank to the bot
ANY man. BY the way. who can hit
n some practical plan that will rid the
'vster beds 0f stsrfish, or even hold
heir ravsRes id cheek. may be sure OF
he biggest fortune there Is in this
ountry. The methcds now in vogue
o destroy this enemy of the oyster are
ow SLOW, tedions and unsatisfactory.
he starfah haze not appeared in such
lsEe numbers this season ~ they did
sst season and the one before. but
hey are numerous enough, and the
lrmers boiled . good many thousand
them last month. This i the best
'ay to get rid of them yet found. They
re dredged up with the oysters and
leaned to death. IN. Y. Sun.