Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1904-02-05
STORY OF AN OYSTER
TOLD BY HIMSELF ABOUT HIMSELF
AND HIS TRIBE.


TOLD BY HIMSELF ABOUT HIMSELF
AND HIS TRIBE.
The Trials and TribuIatfons OF the
Succulent BivaIve From the Time
OF Planting Until HIS Appearance
ON the Fishmonger,s Counter.
There were about 300 900 Of us when,
as tiny fakes of spawn-o or 'spat," as
the oyster spawn is called we foated
out into the water one day on .the
fats.
At first we were white and apparent
y hfeless. Then we turned gray and
finally black. At this stage we became
yisibly alive. = For several days we
foated, the sport Of waves and tides.
Some Of my brothers were carried out
to sea and so vanished; others were
swallowed by fish. at last we all be-
gan 1nstinctively to sink toward the
bottom.
Then began again terrible destruc-
ton. Many fell on mud--the most ia
tai thing young oyster can do. These
persisted at once. Others attached
themselves to plants and weeds which
grow at the bottom Of the sea. They
lived for time so long at least as the
plant remained alive. Then, when the
plant died, they persisted as well.
Fortunately for myself, 1 drifted on
10 bit of "cultch"-that Is to say, one
OF the old shells which the dredgers
and oyster men SO carefully scatter all
over the sea floor Of an oyster bed. I
settled with my deep shell uppermost
and my fiat or right shell nearer the
ground. At the time I did not know
why did this. I have since realized
thaf 1t was because In that position I
should be more easily able to eject the
sand nd and grit which rough sea some
times stirs up in shallow water. / at
tached myself firmly to my anchorage
OF "cultch" and felt myself at last fair
~ started in life
Soon I nAiced that every single NOR
sci OF shell or stone around me was
tenanted by tiny oysters, all lying in
the same position as myself and all
firmly anchored
There lay, unmoving, for nearly a
year. Food, in the shape of tiny ami
malculn, which an oyster loves best,
was plentiful. When the water was
thick l' with it, we all opened our shells
wide, and, making currents in the wa
ter by means of the tiny hairs which
fringe our gills and which men call our
boards, We washed the dainties into
our mouths. Our choicest delicacies
were the minute green alg@, which
give to full grown oysters that greenish
t1nge that is the mark of the aristo-
cratic native.
When l first anchored myself, was
but the twentieth Of an inch in diane
ter--so small, indeed, that microscope
would have been necessary to examine
me- At that stage my shell was per-
fectly transparent.
At the end Of ten months I had in
creased in diameter to fully the size
of q dime and become what is called
brood"
During all this time had been learn
ing many things. found out that 1t
was necessary to close my shell tight
when dangers Of various kinds threat
ened, when the tide was low or, in win
ter, when frost was severe. You may
perhaps imagine that an oyster is a
creature Of such low organism that it
cannot see or feel much Of what is go
ing*on round about it. But you are
wrong. The mantle fringe Of an oyster
is very sensitive. If you watched US
from boat in calm water, you would
see that the mere shadow Of the boat
crossing an oyster bed will cause those
of us upon whom it falls to close our
shells Immediately.
4 ItSwas necessary to be most careful.
Dangers were, many and terrible. Sea
urchins prowled among us and de-
voured many. But Of all our foes the
worst is the five fingered starfish. One
Of my sisters, anchored not yard
away, fell a victim to this terror Of
the oyster beds. It clutched her with
its long fingers. She closed her shell.
But the creature was not to be shak-
cu ILL.,. x4OuI dllCIs uOuE ~ CAuuS lAC10
until on the second day after its first
grip she, poor thing, opened her shell
to get mouthful Of food. At once the
star6sh injected into her fluid which
stupefied her so that she could not
close again. Then the monster turned
itself inside out, shot itself into the
open shell and devoured her.
Then, one day year after had
fioated as .'spat,n came startling
change In my existence. Something
huge and heavy came out Of the shad-
ow Of boat above and approached,
rasping and grating along the bottom.
It was a great triangular dredge Of
wrought iron. At the bottom was a
fiat bar with blunt edge, known to
the dredgers as the ''bit.' 2
AS the .'bite approached 1t scraped
the bottom OF the sea clean. and next
instant I, too. found myself lifted and
dropped into the net, together with
hundreds like myself and miscel-
.ianeous collection Of small soles and
other things.