122 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The success in lobster culture attained by the Commission of 

 Inland Fisheries, at their Experiment Station at Wickford, is one of 

 those few remarkable successes in artificial marine culture which 

 have been reached through a long course of slow and, at times, 

 disheartening experiments. The ordinary method employed in the 

 artificial propagation of fishes, the mere hatching the eggs, has been 

 of little avail in the case of the lobster. Its failure may be stated, 

 briefly, as due to two causes: The first and most important of these 

 is the slow growth of the lobster, the length of time required to reach 

 maturity and propagate itself naturally; the second is the prolonged 

 period of larval helplessness. 



If we leave out of consideration the helpless larval period we find 

 that the lobster in its natural state is not materially handicapped 

 in its struggle for maintenance, except in the particular fact of its 

 slow growth. With reference to the natural advantages it might be 

 stated that its life on the sea bottom, together with the instinct of 

 hiding in burrows in the mud or under rocks, affords much better 

 protection than fishes seem to possess. Besides, there is perhaps no 

 external part, unless it is the eye, which can be lost or injured without 

 the lobster being able to replace it. The loss of a fin or the upturning 

 of 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 surely 

 fertilized and afterwards cared for by the parent until hatched. The 

 eggs of most fishes are thrown into the water, and depend on chance 

 fertilization and favorable circumstances for their fostering. But 

 against the human foe the lobster is powerless, and there has been 

 a rapid decrease in their abundance since there was a demand for 

 them in the market. 



Because the lobster possesses, in a high degree, natural advantages 

 for protecting itself, except in its larval helplessness, it seemed 

 necessary to adopt some measure of rearing them through this latter 



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