Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-08-30
A FIGHTING OYSTER.
In = Battle WITTY a Starfish the Watchful
Bivalv We Killed Its Foe.

Bivalve Killed Its Foe.
"To look at an oyster you would never
imagine that there was any fight in it,
would you?" asked an observant fisherman.
as he pried open the shell Of one Of tho
bivalves he was talking about. "No one
would think an oyster could and would
fight unless he had been a witness some
time or other Of the oysters fighting quail
ties.
"One Of the most exciting contests I
ever saw was between an oyster and n
of the most deadly enemies Of the oyster
family, and l am glad to say that the oys-
ter won the fight. The enemy was a star
fish, and if all of it's kind were as fresh
and indiscreet as this one was they
wouldn't be q source of so much dread to
the oyster farmer.
every person who has anything to do
with raising oysters has seen many a bat
tie between them and starf1sh. These de-
structive enemies of the oyster grow fast,
but seldom attempt to attack the bivalves
before they are 6 months old, and then
their inexperience and overconfldence are
apt to get them in a heap of trouble. A
starfish that has cut its eyeteeth, SO to
speak, will get the best of an oyster every
time, for it will mount tho shell, drill q
hole through it, inject it's Supplying liquid
into the oyster and envelope the whole
thing with its capacious and elastic mouth
stomach bcforv 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
San wipe out q wheat farm in Dakota.
Starfish are virtually walking stomachs,
and l have found them stretched over
CLAIMS, shell and all, that were a great deal
bigger than the natural dimensions Of tho
startish. When one of these rapacious
m%arauders envelops q clam or an oyster, it
simply turns itself wrong side out and
pulls itself over it's victim, as you would
pull on a pair Of new socks.
"This fight I was speaking about oc-
CURED in shallow water, and I had a good
sight Of it. I saw the starflsh work warily
along over the oyster, and then settle upon
it. The bivalve was on the lookout,
though, and when the starf1sh was near
enough the oysters shell closed like a 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 starlsh doesn't mind the
loss Of q ray or two-in fact, it can stand
the loss of four of it's rays and then make
its way of, in o short time spreading and
growing the lost members again. But if
the starflsh loses all five of it's rays its
doom is sealed. It will die almost imme-
diately.
"The oyster had no sooner clipped of
one of it's foes legs than it set it's trap
again and waited for a renewal Of the at
tack. This was not long in coming. The
starfish dropped itself slowly, with SO
much confidence that I could almost see it,
n wa soon astride the oyster again.
Again the trap flew shut, and the starfish
rose with but three of it's five rays left.
But it was plucky, and with confidence
unimpaired returned for the third round
with the prompt and watchful oyster. The
round was a repetition of the other two,
and the starflsh was bereft Of another leg.
The persistent enemy Of the oyster had ap.
parently set it's mind on having that par.
ticular one, and without a moments hosi.
tation turned it's crippled body to the
fourth assault.
"The oyster was now mad all the way
through and shifted it's position, turning
it's open shell upward as the starfsh drop
ped toward it. This was the last round Of
the fight, for the oyster caught both re
manning rays of the starfsh in the traI
and shipped them of at one bite. Thu
rayless starfsh turned over and sank tt
the bottom dead."-New York Sun.