Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-10-27
FISH AND OYSTER NOTES.

FISH AND OYSTER NOTES.
AS is well known, the pearls from
American oysters are well nigh vslu-
less. Hence we give little credence
to the following dispatch from Min
nesots: "a. Jay Gould, broker of
Minneapolis, recently found $4,000
worth of pearls while eating oysters
IN local cafe. While in the same
place few days later he found two
more pearls. While they were not
so large or so valuable as the others,
they aIe worth probably several hun
dred dollars. This made six pearls
found in one week by Mr.. Gould. A.
W. Van Hafften has bought the larg
est of the pearls for $500 and three
others have been sent to New York
for a special examination. Local
jewelers. have become interested and
Mr.. Gould states that he has received
an average of so calls a day about
the pearls"
The food of the oyster consists en-
tirely of minute animal and vegeta-
BILE organisms and small particles of
organized matter though his diet con-
sists of about 80 per cent. vegetable
matter and 10 per cent. of animal
matter. The ordinary sea water con-
tains an abundance of this kind of
foods which is drawn into the gills
with the water, but as the water
strains through the pores into the
water tubes the food particles are
caught on the surface of the gills by
a layer of fadhesive slime, which coy-
ers all the soft parts of the body. |
Ms soon as they are thus entangIed |
the ella strikes against them in such |
a way as to roll or slide them along
the gills toward the mouth. When |
they reach the interior ends of the
gills they are pushed of and fall oe-
tween the lips, and these again cov-
cred with ella, which carry the par
ticles forward until they slide into
the mouth, which is always open
VIDE (like some people) and ciliated,
so as to draw the food through the
esophagus into the stomach. When
ever the shell is opened these ella
are in action, and as long as the oys-
ter is breathing a current Of food is
sliding into his mouth. In one par
ticular, live oyster is an improve
ment on many men-he knows when
to open his mouth and when to close
it.
From Boston Journal)
Eighteen feet from the tip of his
snout to the tail, the largest fish
that was ever brought into Boston,
came In on the Ida Silva, sword
fisherman, having been captured
after fight only equalled by John
Boyle 0'Reilly's "fght with the am
Der whale" For twelve miles the
monster towed dory containing two
men, who had harpooned it, think
ing it was q sword6sh. A score of
times it turned and attacked the
boat, hundred times it sought the
bottom, endeavoring to pull the
frail dory down after it and only
being prevented by the length Of
the harpoon rope. The fish was
styled a skillagalee or large billfish,
but never before was one of that
species known to grow to half its
size. Its tail measured six feet when
extended. Its side fin was nearly
two feet long and its huge dorsal
was nearly four feet. 1t had a sharp
nose. about two feet long. as hard as
a Roman. sword, and its head was
larger than swordfsh. One of the
men told the Journal man the story
of the capture. GA week ago" he
said, Gin dead calm Dowdy and l
put off in a dory. We had rowed
but short distance from the ship
when we saw this fish rising, and as
he reached the surface / put har-
poon into him. Then I saw he was
like no swordfish that ever lived.
lie tore around in the water, Great
ing enormous waves, and then dash
ed at the boat. He hit it q number
of times with his body, but his
sword was so short In proportion
that he was unable to use it. Then
ne started to run away. The line
drew taut, and we tore through the
water like a torpedo boat. Twenty
knots we did If we did one, and
dories aren't made to stand strain
like that. After while it tried to
ease up, bat each time we pulled
tant on the rope. This finally tired
him out. He was bleeding all the
time, and at last, five hours after we
harpooned him, be turned over.
Then we started to pull back to the
ship. She was fully ten miles away,
and the monster, which weighed
400 pounds, was not easy to move
even in the water. We finally got
back, completely tired out. It was
a great victory"