90 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



nearly accurate. A case of this kind occurred in Plaquemines Parish 

 in 1897, when the oysters in Quarantine Bay and its vicinity were 

 killed by a crevasse, which occurred about March 15 and lasted until 

 July, when the water again became salt enough to support oyster life, 

 and a heavy set of spat fell upon the dead shells. On March 2, 1898, 

 when these beds were examined, much of this spat had grown to a 

 length of from 2i to 3 inches, and, assuming that the water became 

 suitable for oysters as early as July 1, these oysters could not have 

 been older than 8 months. 



In Bayou Schofield some oyster shells, put down about July 1, were 

 taken up about August 15, and were found to bear spat, some of 

 which was an inch in length. Shells planted in Bay Coquette in Sep- 

 tember, 1897, were taken up March 5 and found covered with young 

 oysters, most of which were from 2 to 2| inches in length, although 

 there were a few as small as f inch. 



At the same place, oysters grown on shells planted September, 1896, 

 and culled and rebedded when about 1 year old, had grown to a 

 length of about 3J inches by the 5th of March, 1898, when they could 

 not have been more than 18 months old. They were of excellent shape 

 and fine flavor. In July or August, 1895, a piece of rock about 6 or 8 

 inches in diameter was thrown ui)on the planting-ground in Bayou 

 Schofield, being removed 23 months later. It is now in the possession 

 of the United States Fish Commission and is covered with a growth of 

 40 or 50 oysters, all of which are over 4 inches, some of them being as 

 much as 6 inches in length, but all rather inferior in shape owing to 

 the crowding to which they were subjected. Tabulating these results 

 we have the following as illustrating the normal rate of growth of 

 oysters on favorable bottom in Louisiana : 



It will be noticed that the length of some of the oysters 8 months old 

 was but ^ inch less than those 18 months old, but owing to the im- 

 provement in shape, due to the broadening and deepening of the shells, 

 the animals in the latter were from 4 to G times as voluminous as the 

 former. Had they not been culled from the shells and separated from 

 one another the imi)rovement would not have been so great, a state- 

 ment illustrated by the 23-months-old specimens from Bayou Schofield. 

 There are very few places in the North where the rapidity of oyster 

 growth rivals that attained in Louisiana, a condition brought about by 

 the abundanceof oyster food indneod by the favorable temperature and 

 the richness of the waters in the chemical elements necessary for the 

 production of vegetation. 



