Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-02-20
STORY OF AN OYSTER
TOLD BY HIMSELF ABOUT HIMSELF
Art6 HIS TRIBE.

The Trials and Trfbulationa of the
SuccuIenf BivaIve From the Time
of Planting Until His Appearance
on the FIshmOnser's Counter.
There were about 100000 of US when,
SIS tiny fakes of spawn-or ''spat," az
the oyster spawn is called-we foated
out into the water one day on 'the
flats"
AT first we were white and apparent
~ lifeless. Then we turned gray and
finally black. at this stage we became
visibly alive. For several DAYS we
fioated, 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 instinctively 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 a time-so long at least as the
plant remained alive. Then, when the
plant died, they persisted as well.
Fortunately for myself, drifted on
| to 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. 1
settled with my deep shell uppermost
| and my fat or right shell nearer the
| ground. AT the time l did not know
why 1 did this. 1 have since realized
| that it was because in that position 1
should be more easily able TO eject the
sand and grit which a rough sea some
times stirs up in shallow water. 1 at
tached myself firmly to my anchorage
OF "cultch" and felt myself at last fair
ly started in life.
Soon noticed 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 1 lay, unmoving, for nearly a
year. Food. in the shape of tiny ami
malcule. which an oyster loves best,
was plentiful. When the water was
thick 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
our mouths. Our choicest delicacies
were the minute green alga, which
give to full grown oysters that greenish
tinge that is the mark of the aristo-
cratic native.
When / 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 1 had in |
creased in diameter to fully the sizei
of a dime and become what is called |
brood"
During all this time had been learn |
ing many things. 1 found out that it
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 il. But you are
wrong. The mantle fringe of an oyster
Is very sensitive. If you watched US
from a 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.
1t was necessary 10 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 a yard |
1,gz .lA
the oyster beds. 1t clutched her with |
its long fingers. She closed her shell.
But the creature was not to be shak- |
en- off Hour after hour it chung there |
until on the second day after its first |
grip she, poor thing, opened her shell |
to get a mouthfuI of food. AT once the |
starfish injected into her a 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 a year after 1 had |
fioated as "spat," came a startling |
change in my existence. Something |
huge and heavy came out OF the shad- |
ow of a boat above and approached, |
rasping and grating along the bottom |
1t was a great triangular dredge Of |
wrought iron. At the bottom was a |
fiat bar with a blunt edge, known to |
the dredgers as the bit
As the bit approached it 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 a miscel-
laneous collection Of small soles and
other things.
One OF the men sorted over the catch
and, having selected all the oysters
and spat. shaded" the rest back into
the sea through a portfolio.
I. in company with enormous guam
titles of other brood. was put into a