CRUSTACEANS AS FOOD 



533 



the Pacific coast and is rapidly coming into favor there. Dredg- 

 ing for scallops, another delicacy of the mollusk family, is an 

 important industry along certain parts of our coasts. 



Practical Exercise 11. What mollusks are used for food in your locality? 

 Find out by inquiry in local markets just where each comes from. 



If you live where shellfish are produced, make a report to the class on this 

 industry. 



Why may raw oysters or clams be a source of disease ? 



Crustaceans as food. Crustaceans are of considerable value 

 as food. The lobster is highly esteemed as food, but has become 

 scarce as the result of overfishing. Laws have been enacted in 

 most lobster-producing states against overfishing. Egg-carrying 



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'S'-e.c* ls<sfctc* 



A lobster pot. The lobster crawls forward and swims backward. He crawls 

 through the openings in the nets into the chamber containing the bait, but 

 when he tries to leave by swimming backward he gets caught. 



lobsters must be returned to the water ; all smaller than six to ten 

 and one half inches in length (the law varies in different states) 

 must be put back ; and other restrictions are placed upon the tak- 

 ing of these animals, in the hope of saving the race from extinction. 

 The United States Bureau of Fisheries and several eastern states 

 are now hatching out millions of little lobsters each year, keeping 

 them until they are large enough to care for themselves and then 

 liberating them. The spiny lobster of the western coast is also 

 in danger of extinction through overfishing. In consequence a 

 long closed season has been declared, from the first of March to 

 the fifteenth of October of each year. This protects the females 

 during the egg-laying season. 

 h. bio— 35 



