File:Annual report of the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries made to the General Assembly (1906) (14596844107).jpg

Identifier: annualreportofco36rhod (find matches)
Title: Annual report of the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries made to the General Assembly
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Rhode Island. Commissioners of Inland Fisheries
Subjects: Fisheries -- Rhode Island Fishery law and legislation -- Rhode Island
Publisher: Providence, The Commissioners
Contributing Library: MBLWHOI Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MBLWHOI Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
m, together with the instinct ofhiding in burrows in the mud or under rocks, affords much betterprotection than fishes seem to possess. Besides, there is perhaps noexternal part, unless it is the eye, which can be lost or injured withoutthe lobster being able to replace it. The loss of a fin or the upturningof a few scales will often be sufficient cause for the death of a fish.The lobster also has the advantage of having its eggs more surelyfertilized and afterwards cared for by the parent until hatched. Theeggs of most fishes are thrown into the water, and depend on chancefertilization and favorable circumstances for their fostering. Butagainst the human foe the lobster is powerless, and there has beena rapid decrease in their abundance since there was a demand forthem in the market. Because the lobster possesses, in a high degree, natural advantagesfor protecting itself, except in its larval helplessness, it seemednecessary to adopt some measure of rearing them through this latter i
Text Appearing After Image:
Plate XIII.—An adult female lobster in berry, so called, or bearing the egg-clusters under thetail. (Photograph from life.) REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 123 period. For more than a decade experiments were pushed withvigor by the various States, the United States Government, and alsoby European governments. The many difficulties, however, pre-vented success till 1900, when the honor of having offered the firstand, up to the present time, the only solution of the problem waswon by the Rhode Island Commission at Wickford. It has taken,nevertheless, since the discovery of the principle, five years of slowand tedious experiments to develop the scheme to the point whereit is practical and economical. Fifty per cent, in round numbers (48.2 per cent, actually) have beenreared from the first to the fourth stage in lots of 20,000. It is inthis stage that the fry commence to burrow and are, therefore, moreable to care for themselves. These figures will be appreciated whenit is

Note About Images