236 FISHERIES OP THE UNITED STATES. [52] 



patches or beds, and such local ities are the favorite resorts of the preda- 

 tory fishes, mollusks, crustaceans, and radiates. The star-fishes espe- 

 cially frequent these areas and destroy immense numbers of mussels. 

 All the injurious Gasteropods prey upon them more or less, wherever 

 found, and the tautog, drum, and other fishes devour the adults, while 

 the scup and like smaller fish feed upon the young. 



Though used as food to a limited extent on both coasts of the United 

 States, there is no organized fishery devoted to the capture of the mussel. 

 In common with many other shell-fish not known in the markets, they 

 are eaten occasionally by the inhabitants of the coast, and of late years 

 some trade is springing up on the coasts of Connecticut and Long Island. 

 Most of the mussels sold for food go to New York and are there disposed 

 of in the natural state, but more frequently are boiled and pickled. In- 

 habiting the interior of the shell of the mussel is a small messmate — the 

 Pinnotheres maculatus, or mussel-crab — whicb, like the little oyster-crab, 

 is a delicious morsel. While not as yet extensively utilized as food, the 

 mussels, like many other shell-fish, are frequently used for fertilizing the 

 ground, the farmers of Long Island and New Jersey securing them by the 

 wagon-load for that purpose. In time, however, they will probably oc- 

 cupy as prominent a place in the food supply of the American seaboard 

 as they do on the coasts of Europe. The value of the mussel fishery iu 

 1879-'80 is estimated by Ingersoll at $37,000, which represents a yield 

 of 000,000 bushels. 



Modiola plicatula, Lamarck. 



This species, known as the Eibbed-mussel, is found from Georgia to 

 Casco Bay, Maine, and exists, though more rare and local, further north. 

 It is very abundant from Vineyard Sound to the southward, especially 

 along the coast of New Jersey, and has been reported of late as increas- 

 ing in Chesapeake Bay. It is more abundant in the neighborhood of 

 estuaries and salt marshes, or on muddy shores, and is usually found 

 about high- water mark, where it is left uncovered for a greater part of 

 the time by the tide. Along the edges of marshes they are sometimes 

 crowded so thickly as to form a stratum 6 inches or more in thickness. 

 Like the Modiola modiolus, this species is not of commercial import- 

 ance. It is very seldom eateu by man, though it is devoured by many 

 fishes, especially the "drums," and by star-fish and the carnivorous 

 Gasteropods. In company with an allied species, the Modiola hamatus, 

 and the Mytilus edulis, it is used quite extensively on the New Jersey 

 coast for fertilizing ground. The presence, which is by no means in- 

 frequent, of this mussel on an oyster-bed, is undesirable, the bunches 

 and masses held together by the byssus, attracting the various enemies, 

 that, though they came for the mussels, remain to devour the more 

 valuable ovsters. 



