34 ABOUT LOBSTERS 



safe procedure. In one instance, an abandoned, water-filled 

 quarry has proved an effective and inexpensive means of dis- 

 posal. 



We have no record of shell disease developing in a 

 pound containing only Maine lobsters. In every reported 

 case, the disease has been associated with the presence of 

 imported lobsters. This fact is of great significance since it 

 indicates there is no continuity of infection in a pound. The 

 absence of continuity of infection may be interpreted to 

 mean that contamination in the pound disappears during 

 the spring and summer months when the pound is empty 

 and that the disease organism requires a living host. 



Although shell disease has been known in Canadian 

 waters since 1936 and in Maine pounds since 1942, there is 

 no evidence that the disease is present in Maine waters ex- 

 cept for a few diseased specimens widely scattered both in 

 space and time. It appears probable that the disease is not 

 water-borne. The presence of the disease in adjacent Ca- 

 nadian waters and its apparent absence in Maine waters is a 

 surprising fact, however, and we would be most unwise to 

 conclude that the, disease is unlikely to break out in our na- 

 tive stocks. We must consider ourselves fortunate up to the 

 present time and exercise every known precaution to pre- 

 vent its introduction. 



Plug rot. This is a decay and blackening of the claw 

 meat adjacent to the plug. It may proceed so that the shell 

 is decayed away for an area as large as a quarter, exposing 

 a marble-sized section of black, dead meat. 



This infection is rare and appears in lobsters which 

 have been held some time. 



Plug rot must be blamed on the plug. It is not evident 

 why it appears so infrequently, or what there may be in the 

 way the plug is inserted to make the infection so virulent. 



The Sea and Shore Fisheries report that plug rot oc- 

 curs equally with either wood or plastic plugs, but is most 

 noticeable with the hand- whittled Canadian plugs. These 

 often have a curved shape so that their points fetch up 



