United States De-oartnent of the Interior 



Oscar L. Chapi.'.an, Secretary 



rish riid Wildlife Service 



Al'oert M. Day, Director 



STsecieJ. Scientific Reisort - Tisheries 

 ITo. 2S' 



THE PEARL-OYSTER RESOURCES OF PANAMA 



By 



Paul S. Galtsoff, Ph.D. 

 Fishery Eesearch Biologist 



C013TE1TTS 



Page 



Introduction 2 



Eistor:/- of the Peprl Fishery in Paaa-aa 2 



Econonic Importance of Pearl Fishery 7 



Value and Quality of Pearls 10 



Methods of Investigation 10 



Ecological Cliaracteristics of Pearl 0:''ster Bottoms and of 



Adjacent G-rounds 11 



Submarine Tocography of the Gulf of Panama lU 



Weter Movements in the Gulf of Pr^cna l6 



Temperature, Salinity and pE of Water l6 



Notes on Ecology of Seashore and Sliallov/ Water 21 



Eocky Tjottom Ijelow lov; water 27 



Sbzicz!- flats 32 



Observation on pearl oj'sters 35 



Size and vreight of shells 37 



Hepji. shells 



Microscopic e:ranination of tissues of pearl oyster 



Ser ratio and ripeness of t;ie gonads te 



Exanination of plankton UU 



Observations on edible oysters of the genus Ostrea ^ 



Probable cause of the depletion of pearl oyster grounds • H6 



Bibliography h^ 



Ana];;.'siE of rmter fron hot springs, Coiba Island ^ 



22 Illustrations 



