GROWTH OF OYSTERS WITH DAMAGED SHELL-EDGES

¹ U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Milford, Conn.

1. These experiments, based on length measurements, showed that oysters, the shell-edges of which were broken off, compensate for this loss by forming new shell at a more rapid rate than undamaged oysters living under identical conditions.

2. Damage to shells does not stimulate oysters to grow at an accelerated rate throughout the remainder of the growing period. Immediately after the damage they grow rapidly to compensate for the loss and then continue to grow at the usual rate to add to their length the normally expected annual increment. Thus, no relationship was found between the amount of shell removed and the final length reached.

3. The ability of oysters to repair broken shell-edges and still grow to about the same length as undamaged oysters remains the same regardless of when during the growing season (April 8-September 7) the shells are broken.