Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1896-02-08
THE GREEDY STARFlsH.
A Wonde .fui Feeder With an Appetite
For oysters In the Shell.

For oysters In the She'll
The gray bearded captain of
dredgeboat sat summing himself on
tho quarter mi! Of Lis craft, and he
was telling n viz:tor some facts
about that pest of tho oyster plant
er's life. tho stacfish. Its queer,
mighty queer, said he, "to SEQ how
littlo the average we'll educated man
knows about the creatures one gets
to know so we'll in my limo of bust
ness. Take startish, for example.
Here, this very morning, Il thin
faced chap, who wore spectacles and
acted for all the world like school
master, picked up one of the dead
stars on the par there and asked me
if had amy with the root and stalk
attached.
II suppose I looked stupid for a
minute or two, because he informed
mo next that those were the BIOS
SONS of a very beautiful sea plant.
was mad at his dumb ignorance
and told him my men were so hur-
ried when they hoed and weeded
them out from the oyster plants
that they generally broke the stems.
Eyes, sir, the star is beautiful
and a wonderfully made animal.
When you pick it out of the dredgo
and hold it up, it seems utterly help.
less. Yet no creature in the sea is
more tenacious of life, more cum
ming or moro destructive of the life
around it. Its greed is almost past
human belief.
VERY few fishes, so far as can DO
learned, prey upon them, the storms
seldom tear them from their deep
hiding places, and they multiply
with astonishing rapidity. If somo
irato crab or lobster bites off one Of
the star rays, Il new growth speed
lily replaces the old one. Its digest
i've system Is so powerful that be.
side it the cast iron organs of the os
trich seem al the stomach of weak
dyspeptic. Oyster shells, the most
fatal and indestructible morse i
which can assail the insides of any
land animal, do not cause the star a
moment of distress.
1t seems to scent food or prey
from long way off. AS you look
down on shoal oyster bed you can
see big star from point 100 feet
away change his course and go
straight to where fat oyster lies.
Their gliding movements arc
stealthy, but swift. Once they fall
upon tho bivalve its days-yes, its
minutes-are numbered. You sec
tho undcrside of this fellow-tho
bright, yellow side, I mean. Tho
back, as you notice, is purple, COW
crod with blunt spines. Well, those
long narrow Sits radiating from tho
center arc tho mouth and stomach
combined. The star simply opens
itself-lays bare it's eternal econo-
my, so to speak-and, Unfolding tho
hard shellcd victim, stretches itself
back, having wrapped up the food
as storekeeper wraps up bundle
in paper.
''Then the star crawls away to
some secluded spot and lets tho
whole thing digest The shells and
other irritating substances do not
seen, to Inconvenience him in tho
least When he has sucked all tho
nutriment from the oyster, he un.
folds the package and disgorges tho
shells, sand and gravel. He is then
ready for fresh meal.
1.-THE damage thoy do us is meal.
culable. Wrinkles, drills, drumfish
and poaching fishermen all annoy
us, but thoy arc nothing when com.
pared With these five pointed ras.
Gals. But with all that, still I al
mire them. Their untiring care Of
the baby stars until big enough to
shift for themselves, their Knowing
ways in time of danger and their
quick hunting instincts all command
the respect even of an enemy. II
those college chaps would study thu
stars Of the sea more-there arc
some 40 vaiieties-and the stars of
the sky less, thu wouldn't get such
stiff necks. New York World.