15 



PART1II-VALUE OF STARFISH MEAL— PROTEIN SUPPLEMENT FOR GROWTH 

 OF RATS AND CHICKS AND FOR EGG PRODUCTION 



This is the third paper 

 fish ( Asterias forbesi) . The 

 in Long Island Sound, the ne 

 and the control methods used 

 sition of the starfish. The 

 was also discussed briefly. 

 of starfish meal in starting 

 ing rats . 



By Charles F. Lee** 



INTRODUCTION 



in a series of six technological studies of the star- 

 first discussed its ecological relation to the oyster 

 cessity for starfish control by the oyster industry, 

 The second paper reviewed data on chemical compo- 

 work of Dr. W. Bergmann on the sterols of starfish 

 The present paper is concerned with the utilization 

 and laying mashes for poultry and in diets for grow- 



REVIEW OF LITERATURE 



Although efforts to exterminate starfish have been carried out by oystermen 

 on Long Island Sound for nearly 100 years, almost no effort has been made towards 

 the utilization of starfish so taken in these control efforts. 



After the first World War, in 1919, Kole reported the utilization in Germany 



of starfish for feed as well as 



for fertilizer, but it seems to have been used 

 chiefly to adulterate the more valuable shrimp 

 meal. Vachon (1920) suggested that starfish 

 might be used as a fertilizer in Canada if a 

 sufficient supply of raw material were avail- 

 able, and Gibbs (1941) reported that the raw 

 starfish which were brought in for payment of 

 bounty in Rhode Island in 1941 were used locally 

 by farmers and by State institutions as fer- 

 tilizer. 



However, it remained for the period of 

 World War II, with its accompanying shortage of 

 protein feeds , to cause an extensive investiga- 

 tion of the possible use of starfish meal in 

 feed mixtures. In recent years, the use of 

 commercially mixed poultry mashes and other 

 feedstuffs has increased rapidly. Fish meals 

 have proven of exceptional value as sources of proteins of a type not found in 

 any vegetable source and the established fish meal industries using menhaden, 

 herring, pilchard, and the so-calle d "whitefish" fillet scrap have been unable 

 ■"Chemical Engineer, Fishery Technological Laboratory, Division of Commercial Fisheries, 



College Park, Maryland. 

 NOTE: Part I of this series "Starfish Control - Its Economic Necessity and Methods Used," 

 appeared in the January 194^ issue of Commercial Fisheries Review , pp. 1-6. Also available 

 as Sep. No. 153. 



Part II, "Chemical Composition," appeared in the February 1948 issue, pp. Il-l8. Also 

 available as Sep. No. 196. 



