Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-10
MATCHING LOBSTERS
An Interesting Experiment Under the
Auspices of the Fish Commission.
The Cannabnlihtfc Tendencies on the
Part of the Little Fellows Present
the Greatest Difficulty.
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
The stocking of the Atlantic coast waters
with artificially Matched Holsters is the most
interesting experiment that now engages
the attention of the United States fish COM
mission. Scarcely more than beginning
has been made in the work, this being only
the second season during which it has been
carried on. The enterprise is being COLI
Quoted at Woods Holl, Mass, where, dur
| ing the present summer, the enormous num-
Der of 81 100000 lobster eggs have been
taken and subjected to the incubator pro-
cess. OF these, 100000 were actually
Matched.
To suppose that the artificial Matching of
Holsters is attended with any special diff
Guilty would be a mistake That is not
where the knotty part OF the problem lies,
as will be explained presently: The female
Holsters in spawn are obtained from fisher
men, and each one is held by the tail while
the egg masses are removed by gentle
scraping with a dull wooden knife. The
eggs are attached to the swimmerets of the
| animal. A mother lobster carries from
5000 to $4,000 eggs, the latter being rea-
sonable allowance for an individual meas
uring sixteen inches in length They are
olive green in color, and as the time of
Matching approaches the shells become so
translucent that the little creatures may be
seen coiled up inside of them.
the world They are put into an ordinary
glass jar, such as is employed for Matching
the eggs of shad and other kinds of fishes.
The jar is SO contrived that a continuous
stI cam of fresh water flows through it,
keeping the eggs agitated. After a few
days the young Holsters emerge from the
Shells shrimp-like and almost transparent.
They look not in the least like adults OF
their species. Now comes the dangerous
part of their existence. By the time they
are forty-eight hours old they have begun
to prey upon ach other. They are veritable
cannibalS, those little Holsters, and no mat
ter how much food is given to them, they
let no opportunity slip to gobble their COM
panions. Their pugnacity is remarkable.
and owing to this wicked disposition it is
out of the question to keep number of
them together in a tank.
They Must Take the Chances.
This is where the trouble occurs in the
artificial propagation of Holsters. If it were
only practicable to keep them for few
weeks, until the danger period should be
passed, they might be put into the sea full
f1edged, SO to speak, and able to take care
of themselves. But this could not be
complished except by providing separate
compartment for each tiny crustacean, in
order that ne might not get at his fellows
or be eaten by them. Such plan could
scarcely he carried out Accordingly, the
experts of the fish commission are obliged
10 take the infant Holsters when they are
only about a day old and dump them into
the ocean to take their chances. The like
ihood of the survival of any individual
among them is very small, as may be
judged from the following facts:
Baby lob. tiers, like juvenile oysters, are
free-swimmiug ar imals. During the early
part CT their lives they float about at or
near the surface of the sea, prey to all
sorts of fishes and numerous other enemies.
From life-insurance point of view they
are extremely bad risks. Not one in
good many thousands ever grows up. Be
Gil fhox oh fhair Shol 10 of hnr in
tervals, that being the only way in which
they can grow bigger, and this process is
accomplished with much danger; many of
them die in melting. At the age of about
seven weeks the young lobster undergoes
it's fourth molt and thereupon it assumes
the shape of an adult, leaving the surface
for good and descending to the bottom,
where it spends the rest of it's lifetime in
walking about CIR hiding in holes among the
rocks.
Baby Holsters are about one-third of an
inch long when newly Matched. They will
eat almost anything, and powdered clans
and crabmeat are suitable food for them.
But the most wholesome provender is OBJ
tanned by towing nets of fine gauze along
the surface of the sea. Thus are collected
quantities of little shrimp-like animals and
other almost microscopic creatures, with
which the surface water fairly swarms.
When they are day old the young lob
sters are put into twelve-gallon milk cans,
one Of which serves to hold 20O,000 or 300,
GO of the infant crustaceans. They are
taken in a boat to suitable localities in
Buzzards bay or Vineyard sound, where
they are let loose in the water. Thence
forward they must take their chances. 1t
is hoped that one out of 1000 of them lives
to grow up. If so many should survive the
Atlantic coast waters of the United States
would socn be repopulated with Holsters
Unhappily. the estimate is in all probable
ity too flattering.
Still II Doubtful Problem.
Lobster Matching by artifce is so new
that nobody cen tell whether it is going to
be failure or a success. This season
100000 young ones have been liberated,
but who can say how many of them will
escape the perils of melting and the maws
of the fishes to attain full growth? If the
scheme is worth anything, there ought to
be large increase of the number of lob
sters taken by fishermen in New England
waters within half dozen years. HOLSTERS
require several years to attain maturity
just how many years is not known Ger
tainly, however, they do not reach mar
ketable size under four or five years. They
begin to reproduce their species when they
are from eight to ten inches long.
The reason why the process of molting Is
SO dangerous to Holsters is that with the
external skeleton is cast off the lining CT
the stomach and intestines, as we'll as the
internal skeleton, which consists for the
most part of a complicated linkwork Of
hard tendons. At the time of shedding a
store of lime is laid down in the stomach
for the purpose of supplying material for
the new skeleton. In an adult the lime is
in the form of two white Jumps. about the
size of filberts. These, better known in the
crayfish as ''crayfishes' eyes," We're con-
sidered by the ancients to be remedies for
a great variety of disorders. 1t is believed
that adult Holsters cast their shells every
otter year. The lobster covers itself with
mud in cold weather, and under certain
conditions 1t burrows as extensively IS
the prairie dog. This interesting animal |
is confined to a comparatively small strip
of the Atlantic ocean, stretching from
Delaware on the south to Labrador on the |
north and extending in breadth from the |
coast line out to depth of from GO to 100 |
fathoms.
A Proposed Plan.
Professor Francis H. Herrick, who has |
had charge of the discriminating enter
prise at Woods Holl, thinks that some
plan may yet be devised for rearing the |
young Holsters in confinement until thew