36 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [Bull. 



loss is still very great. In December, 1909, for example, the 

 following item from a Rhode Island paper indicates that even 

 during that year the damage in certain localities must have been 



excessive. 



et 



The fishermen and oyster growers are complaining of the 

 prevalence of starfish, which are doing great damage to the 

 growing stock. Old oystermen say that never in the history of 

 the business have the starfish been so plentiful, and many of 

 the steamers in Cowesett bay and other points along the coast, 

 which in ordinary seasons are engaged in dredging, are now 

 dragging ' starfish mops ' over the beds to get rid of the pest. 



' One prominent oyster man says that the damage to the 

 oyster beds in Rhode Island and Connecticut this season will 

 be at least a quarter of a million dollars, when the loss of stock 

 and the expense of catching and killing is taken in consideration. 

 The growers are at a loss to explain the unprecedented increase 

 of the pest other than last summer the weather conditions were 

 right for breeding the fish. The expense of catching the star- 

 fish is practically so much money lost, as the stars are of little 

 use except as fertilizer, and even for that purpose they do not 

 command much in the way of price, as they are not caught in 

 large quantities." 



The point of view of the oyster planter is well expressed in 

 the following statements by Mr. B. Frank Wood, Superintendent 

 of Shell-fisheries of New York State.* 



" In Long Island Sound, the starfish is the enemy most to 

 be dreaded. The set of stars seems to have some relation to 

 the oyster set, and, in seasons when the young oysters are 

 abundant, the planters look for a like abundance of stars. 



" This fish is certainly an ill and evil star to the oyster and 

 to its cultivators. At times covering the bottom to a depth of 

 eighteen or twenty inches and extending in solid bunches or 

 masses over considerable areas of ground, they are capable of 

 blanketing entire beds of oysters in their slow but sure advance, 

 leaving not a living bivalve behind. They are very hardy and 

 tenacious of life, and may even be deprived of some of their 

 limbs or rays and regain these members by a new growth which 

 makes good the loss. Unless these pests are constantly attacked 



* Biennial Report of the Shell-fish Commissioners of Connecticut, 1907-08, pp. 96-99. 



