HOW THE OYSTER GROWS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 24 June 1937, Page 9

HOW THE OYSTER GROWS

At the commencement of its career the oyster is so small that 2,000,000 oysters would occupy only a square inch. In six months each oyster is large enough to cover half-a-crown The oyster is its own architect. Its shell grows as the fish inside grows, being never too small. The oyster also bears its age upon its back. It is as easy to tell the age of an oyster by looking at its shell as it is that of horses by examining their teeth. Everyone who has handled an oyster-shell must have noticed layers overlapping each other. They are technically termed “shots.” Each "shot” marks a year’* growth, so that by counting the layers the age of the oyster can be determiner!. To the time of the oyster’s maturity—that is. when four years of age—the ‘shots” are regular and successive: but after that time they become irregular, and are piled one upon another so that the shell becomes bulky and thickened.

There have been fossil oysters, the shell of each of which was nine inches thick. Hence they may be guessed to be more than 900 years old. One or two million oysters are produced from a single parent. That more oysters are not available may be accounted for by the fact that man is not the only oyster-eating animal The starfish loves the oyster, and preys upon it unceasingly. A variety of whelk is also very fond of young oysters. To get at them it bores through the shells and sucks the fish through the hole thus made.