58 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



and more or less overgrown with mussels. It is stated that there is a 

 scattering growth all over the irregular lagoons to the northward. 

 The density on the bed examined was 1.0066. 



East Karako Bay, Northwest Jack Williams Bay, and Picnic Bay. — 

 Bast Karako Bay lies between Shell Island and Deep Pass, the former 

 separating it from West Karako Bay and the latter placing it in com- 

 munication with the waters of Chandeleur Sound. It embraces about 

 7.4 square miles, its greatest extent being in a north-and-south direc- 

 tion. In the northern half of the bay the depth varies from 2£ to 4 

 feet, the bottom being composed principally of soft mud, often mixed with 

 sand. Along the southern side of the island in the northern part, 

 there is considerable hard mud and sand interspersed with soft mud, and 

 also a few patches, more or less limited in extent, in other places. In 

 the southern half of the bay the water averages somewhat greater in 

 depth, being from 4 to 7 feet. A channel runs from the northern point 

 of Shell Island toward the mouth of Deep Pass, the water reaching a 

 maximum depth of 16 feet near the point projecting into the southern 

 end of the bay, and there is also some deep water near the upper 

 entrance to Deep Pass. In this part of the bay the bottom is composed 

 of soft mud almost exclusively. The amount of oyster food is very 

 great. 



In East Karako Bay there are about eight oyster reefs which are 

 either awash or exposed on their crests at low water. On and near 

 these crests the bottom is invariably hard, being composed of a mac- 

 adam of sand and ground-up clam and oyster shells closely compacted, 

 with entire shells lying upon the surface. As a rule these ridges are 

 long and narrow in their exposed portions. 



Near the crests of the reefs there is usually a scattering growth of 

 young oysters about 2 to 24 inches long, together with a few large ones, 

 and considerable quantities of spat are attached to the dead shells, 

 which, from the combined action of the sun and waves, are usually bright 

 and clean and admirably suited to serve as cultch. The young-growth 

 oysters are usually single or in small clusters, and are well-shaped and 

 flinty-shelled. Away from the crests of the reefs the bottom becomes 

 gradually softer, finally merging with the surrounding mud, and as the 

 bottom changes there is also seen a modification in the characters of the 

 oysters. They occur in larger clusters, usually containing from 6 to 

 10 adult individuals; the shells lose their iiintlike appearance and 

 become dark brown and more or less overgrown by a dark-brown sea- 

 weed, which appears to be especially abundant in the southern part of 

 the bay. These oysters are invariably flat, thin-shelled, and the largest 

 of them are usually not more than 5 inches long. Excepting a bed off 

 the long point on the eastern side, all of the oysters in East Karako Bay 

 are inferior in fatness and flavor and are rarely taken by the oyster- 

 men. They mark the extreme condition toward which those in West 

 Karako Bay indicate a tendency, and no doubt represent the primitive 

 state of most of the oyster-beds of this region. If these beds were 



