Herald & Lantern 6 |une '84 ^ _____ —

Seashore Life 0 No Soft Life , Living on Rock

Oysters have so many enemies, its hard to understand how they continue to flourish. Take the starfish, for instance. This 'star of the sea" is a vicious enemy to the oyster. By placing its body over the top shell of our oyster friend, and using its suctioning ^eet, the starfish works until finally it breaks the oyster shell's seal of suction. Then that monster sends its stomach into the shell to eat the soft flesh that man enjoys as well. But the starfish isn't the only enemy of the rough, grey shell that houses the inner soft, sweet oyster body. Fish called drills, crabs, flatworms, oyster catchers and ducks and men prey on oysters as well. OYSTEKMEN, the seafaring people who farm oyster beds, protect their crops bjn fencing the entire farm' to keep the predators out. It's hard to imagine fences in the bay areas where oysters are grown, but those fences and the staggering reproduction rate of the oyster seem to be the only things in favor of one of our favorite seafoods. The oyster female lays from 100 to 500 million eggs a yeari. and that's a pretty good reproduction rate. Oysters range from Texas to Maine, and from Washington state to the San F rancisco area, where they are being established in new beds with only slight success. There are private 'leased'' oyster farms in most oyster-producing states, and in other states, there are public beds for recreational harvest. On the East Coast. Maryland offers this type of bed open to the public Oysters are harvested with hand tongs and with dredges. THE OYSTER is a mollusk, and it must have salt water for living and growing purposes. It is called a sea bed animal because it lives on the bottom of the watery area it calls home, attached to a hard surface of one kind or another. The oyster varies in shape, with a rough surface. This roughness is perpetuated in many instances by the invasion of barnacles and mussels, which attach themselves to the already attached oyster. Colored grey, with a blue-brown color, the oyster isn't really a very pretty thing. The California oyster is smaller, and pinkpurple, while the Olympia oyster, grown in Washington state, is small and a lighter grey in color ON THE East Coast, the Chesapeake Bay area is the primary growing spot for* t oysters. The oyster egg, once hatched, is called spat. After hatching, spat swims freely for several days, and then settle to the bottom of their area and attach themselves to rocks, old shells, or other permanent objects. If the spat settle into mud or damp sand, they cannot

live. Once settled and attached to their anchor, the oysters grow quickly, : reaching harvestable size at about age 2. The oyster has two shells ! held together by a hinge, j The bottom shell, or valve. ] is thick and provides the i 'floor" for the soft inner ! body. The upper shell, or ( valve is thinner and is the ; lid of the oyster body's , covering. TO EAT. the oyster 1 pumps water in and out of its body, filtering out the food that is necessa.y for its sustenance. The small oysters, once settled, ire called "fry" for approximately the first half year of their lives. Oysters were a staple for the early settlers, the In- i dians, and their abandoned camping spots could be determined by the huge piles of oyster shells left behind. When we think of oyster, we think of pearls, and the pearl oyster is actually more of a mussel than a pearl. To grow a pearl, the oyster must bafve some foreign object inside its shell. The object can be tiny, /and then the oyster produces a covering that encapsulates the foreign object and grows to produce a pearl. There are pearls of every shade and shape available, and the principal pearl growing nation is Japan. JAPANESE pearl growers implant foreign objects in the oyster shells and then return them to beds to grow and produce the pearls that will become valuable on the jewlerv market. These pearls are called cultured pearls because they were begun by man and finished by the oyster. The oyster remains a foodstuff for us here in America, though, and in spite of the enemies, the supply of edible oysters continues to be available in oyster beds and fish markets. While pollution and mismanagement have ruined oyster beds in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, new methods for preventing these killers are being exercised, and it is hopeful that in coming years, these states will again join the other oyster producing areas. Oysters are offered raw and on the half shell, they are contained in oyster stew, and they find their way into baked, fried, and stewed recipes that tickle the taste buds of the most discriminating consumer. Try oysters. They're good! —Dixie L. Anderson

29 ' Bp . \ I ' Mm Dorit Ward HEY OLAF! — Olaf, the Cape May County Park Zoo's new buffalo, stSys his distance from this trio. The summer residents of Seaville Camp Ground ferf, froiajdft, Keili Duffy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Duffy or Drexel Hili; Kara (oylt.flMhtof of Mr. and Mrs. William Boyle of Havertown; and Amy McLaughlin, daughter9Ev. %nd Mrs. John McLaughlin of Lansdowne, all Pennsylvania. $ 1

\ S» r Seed Catalogs «|L- A By Clare Campbell t Just look at this shining, gorgeous thing —I The seed catalog that arrives each Spring! r-r=-Oh. isn't it a honey? • •> (I'd better hide my money.) • 1 Looking at Asters, Snapdragons and Pinks " '1SSS Sets one to dreaming and one never thinks JHt Of spading and hoeing and beetles and grubs — tMfcp One sees only blossoms and tall, healthy shrubs y Marigolds, "Mammoth Mums" and Heavenly Blues i-Mf And sweet Marguerites, oh, just which shall ifhoose? M I'ye GOT to have Lupines and Statice and Pent, And Geums and Love-in-a-Mist, then I turn fl V* * And here are the Peonies and sweet Mignonette And Scarlet O'Haras; I like them and yet k,< 'Vi I can't LIVE without Cosmos, Schizanthus spd I'll add them to my list and then turn the pUtt. V. j, OH! ! Wallflowers, Sunflowers, Torenias, to<TlW I'll HAVE to have THEM — they're so wondefiii® blue, And Verbenias, pink ones, I'll always recall 'f • How abundant their bloom is; I'll buy them, THAT'S ALL! ! I count up my order, lots more than I planned, But to cross out one item I just couldn't stand, t (And besides, I don't spend much other than this) CHINESE LANTERNS! I'll add them and Coreopsis! LILIES FROM SEED! It'll be fun to try it - Clematis seed only a quarter! I'll buy it! Small wonder that gardens are bright when they bloom: They are mothered in glory in some living room And the seeds that we plant perhaps know chat we live Through cold, winter days for the beauty they'll give. So all who love flowers will not think it strange That the seed catalogs gobble up all of my change. P S. I always say that a box of candy lasts onlya day, But these frail little seeds that we tuck in the ground (• M f1' ' Will delight us until winter time rolls around /iAnd Winter is nice, for it gives us just time £jTo plan orders for seeds with our very last dime!

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