The Portland daily press., 1900-10-04
THE OYSTERS FRIEND.
Lives in the MoIIHsk and Warns Him
of Approaching Danger.
lFrom the sc.entlfo Amerlcan. J

1t is rarely seen except by naturalists,
for there 1t is not eaten by those
who like oysters, while IN this country 1t
is well known, as we often see it floating
upon the surface of an oyster stew. 1t is
caught, on our coast not only in oysters,
but also in mussels and scaIlops.
The name Washington crab'' has been
suggested by some for the oyster crab, as
it was considered a great delicacy by our
first President.
The crab has been known to naturalists
from the earliest times Of history, and
the lively imaglnations of writer's on
natural history have woven a curious
network of stories about the life and home
Of this modest little animal.
Aristotle the Greek and Pliny the
Roman naturalists, believed that a def
mite relation or understanding existed
between the shell fish and its little lodger
and even went SO far as to say that death
would be the result if the crab should
desert its host. The watchful crab, living
within the home of the dull and stupid
oyster, on seeing small fish approach,
would walt until one more bold than the
rest of It's companions ventured within
the open shell, then gently nipping the
oyster, the doors would be closed and the
fish held a prisoner. Thereupon the two,
the host and mis- guest, would feed at
leisure upon the body of the venturesome
fish.
A very beautiful arrangement between
these two-the blind and the Iame-and
a very pretty compact-but the cold eye
of science saw that bival7e do not feed
upon fish, but upon microscopic animals
and plants which live and float in the
water, and that the little crab, whose
limbs are so soft and yielding, couldEhave
neither the strength nor the power to
pinch off norsels of food from an ordin-
ary fish.
Another story, which held its own un-
til late in the last century, was that this
little crab played the part Of the king s
Jackal, - who hunted by night for his
majesty the lion, 1t would sally forth to
hunt and bring food to the helpless mus
sci or oyster, and on returning from the
hunt, should it find the house closed,
would give a cry which was recognized
by It's host, the door instantly opened and
it was allowed to enter. Study has shown
that the crab never leaves its home and
cannot cry, but as with the lion, who, in
fact, often gets the food for the jackal,
so it is that the little crab feeds upon the
substances which are swept In by the cur
rent Of water made by the b1Valve, in
order to bring in It's oWn food and to
freshen the water for its respiration.
Again the crab was said to warn its
protecting host from danger by timely
pinch, so that the doors could be closed
against some crafty octopus or insidiOus
starHsh, and for which service the crab
was rewarded by board and lodging.
This relation between the crab and the
biyal7e as used by the ancients to illus
trate how helpless is man without a
friend. Even Cicero is said to havs used
this sim1Ie, and we find the same idea
expressed by the Egyptians in their
hieroglyphic writings.
The oyster crab, it is true may act in
such manner that it warns the oyster
of the approach OF danger, but we scarcely
! believe that it is anything but a personal
motive on it's part. We nineteenth cen
tury folks do not believe that any intel
! ligent understanding exists between the
two. We have all seen how crab Will
! hurry back and forth on the approach of
/ danger will dart into the first creviee to
escape its foe, and when in safety brand
! ish it's formidable claws with the greatest
| sh )w Of bravery. So the little Pinnoth-
tr9s may, with the same instinct run
| back and forth within the sensitive
mantle of the oyster, and retreating push
against it's soft body, which will indicate
to the slothful intelligence of it's host
that something is wrong outside, when
! it will discretely close it's shell, as the
/ better part of Yalor.
!,
| large pea, the body is globular, the legs
small and weak, and it differs from nearly
every other crab in having a perfectly
soft yielding skin. In fact, it was always
soft sbelled crabs
The Pinnotheres are found all over the
world, wherever we find oysters, mussels,
or scallops. from the Antarctic Ocean to
the frozen North; but it seems that they
are only used as table deI1cacy by the
American people. In the West Indies
there is an oyster which attaches itself
! to the long roots of the mangrove trees.
| When Columbus first saw them, he was
greatly astOn1shed to find, among the
many wonders of the Western world,
Oyster-b bearing trees, and, having read
that pearls formed in oysters W drops
of dew falling into their open mouths.
reported to the credulous Europeans that
the mangrove oyster must yield an abun-
dant harvest, for the dew was so heavy in
these tropical islands. DR.. Patrick
Browne, however, tells US, in 1856, that
the oyster crab is very common in the
mangrOve oyster, and such ''as eat them
do not think them bic worse for being
accompanied with some of these crabs,
which they swallow with the shell fish. u
These crabs are quite common in the
true pearl oyster of the Indian and
Pacific Oceans, and there is a specimen
OF one OF these shells in which a male is
/ imprisoned in the substance OF the shell
and covered over with a layer of mother
Of pearl The little fellow probably en-
tered the oyster in search of his mate,
and not finding her, wandered about and
finally passed between the mantle of the
oyster and the shell, where he was
finally enshrouded in mother of pearl,
There are about seventy five kinds OF
crabs belonging to the oyster crab family,
all more or less related. A IL of them are
and of a retiring disposition. Some
do not live within the shells OF a protect
ing bivalve, but remain on the sea bot
tom under stones and hidden within
small holes. Naturalists can, by the
study Of these animals, trace the different
steps from the free crab, hiding in holes
and crevices, to those which enter the
open mouths OF yosters, where being pro-