The Washington times., 1901-11-17
A LOBSTER HATCHERY.

A LOBSTER HATCHERY.
| How the Government Collects the
Eggs From the Crustacean.
Uncle Sam will Immediately commence
vigorous work for the rescue of that pre-
| cious crustacean, the lobster. He will es-
tablish on the Maine cost-the favorite
| haunt of our Eastern species-a lobster
! hatchery to cost $4,000. This Will be our
first Government institution devoted ex-
clusively to lobster Matching. In it huE-
! dreds of millions of eggs viii by artificial
stimulus ne made to give forth their valu-
| able contents each year.
! Only millionaires will be able to afford
| HOLSTERS ten years hence, unless some
| thing is done meanwhile to protect these
| creatures. This is Uncle Sans estimate.
! Owing to their wide area it will be i'm
! possible for man to completely wipe them
| out But for all practical purposes they
! will be lost before the year 1911 unless
| heroic methods are applied. The sorry
! condition Of the Industry can be summed
| up in these figures; In Maine, the fore
most lobster State, the quantity has fallen
| off 55 per cent and the price has increased
! CD per cent in ten years. Throughout the
Eastern lobster zone, from Labrador to
Delaware, similar change has occurred.
Mother lobster, eccentric creature that
she is, coats the outside of her body with
freshly laid eggs. This she does, usually
in summer. every alternate year. The
eggs attach themselves TO little protuber-
ances on her under side. She coats them
with cement-like substance, which the
water Immediately hardens. The mater
nal instinct inspires her to thus glue
churnng sea. She carries them ten or
eleven months before Matching ensues.
The minute young break their shells usu-
ally in June. An do not see the green
glare of the translucent sea at one and
the same time. week or more elapses
before the advent OF :he first and last
born. From the moment the little fell
lows appear they select to. take upon their
own shoulders the responsibilities of life
and TO paddle their own canoes. They
swim off to seek fortune, good or i'll, the
fostering parent not recognizing them
again as her offspring. The number of
young which mother lobster thus pro-
duces every two years depends upon her
size. If she be eight inches long she
produces 5000 eggs and the number
doubles every two inches added. There
fore, a ten-inch mother carries 10 600 eggs,
a twelve-inch mother 2O.Oo0, a fourteen
inch 40, ,009 sixteen-inch 5000, and so on
up to 1OO.9c0 which appears to be the
maximum. .
The new hatchery will collect all egg
bearing mothers obtainable along the
Maine coast. 1t is against the State law
for fishermen to sell to dealers Holsters
coated with the eggs. Many. by using
woolIen mitten, strip off the eggs, leaving
Ill -
males as lawful Holsters. But the new
hatchery Will send out a feet of little
launches to canvas lobster potters far and
wide and pay for the egg bearing Holsters
the market price for those which are mar
ketable. Thus will be collected the mil
lions upon millions of eggs to be utilized
in the hatchery Last year the Fish Com
missioner's general hatcheries at Glouces-
ter and Woods Hole, Mass, thus bought
$1,000, 90 lobster eggs. from which they
hatched some so,GOo,GJO young. But these
hatcheries do not devote their exclusive
energies to the lobster
Row after row of seven-quart glass jars.
arranged upon tables. will occupy the
main Matching room Of the new station.
Through these series will pass 4 continu-
Gus circulation of salt water pumped from
the sea AS the thousands of egg Holsters
are brought In men skilled in the art Will
strip them of their beaded coatings. Each
operator with his left hand will grasp
fighting creature from above, turn her
on her back and lower her head down
ward into a vessel designed for the pur-
pose. Pressing her firmly against the
sides he will prevent her manipulation of
her claws With duh short-bladed knife,
he will separate her eggs from the hair
like fibres holding them. The subjects of
this operation will then be removed to a
tank and returned uninjured to the region
whence they came There they VIII lay
again two years later.
The eggs will now be placed in the in
cubators-the jars upon the tables. They |
Will be dipped out into glass graduates. |
Each ounce marked thereupon will rep |
resent 6,090. About half million eggs |
two and one-half Quarts-wilI be placed in |
each jar When first introduced they will |
be mat ed together by the fbres connect |
ing them. In short time they will sepa-
rate and appear BIKE SO many dark green. |
yellowish green and light greyish beads. |
intermiXed, and measuring each l-l5 inch |
in diameter. Eggs taken in October will |
not hatch until May From those taken |
twenty-four hours. The sea water must |
become warmed TO early summer heat be- |
fore they will hatch In the centre Of |
each table between the rows of Matching |
Jars. will be one row of similar vessels |
for the reception OF the young passing |
cover of muslin upon the latter jars will |
prevent their escape.-PortIaud Adver- |
tiser