The Fisheries Exhibition Literature Volume 11 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 edition. Excerpt: ...succulent parts of the fish, leaving the beard, &c., to the less fastidious crabs that generally follow in their wake; passing on, on their errand of destruction of the nutritious food that might well belong to their betters. Dog-whelks were at one time such a pest in the Blackwater--the year before last, we think--that fishermen were paid by the owners of beds 6d. a hundred for bringing them on shore. It is greatly to be regretted that, as these animals are now useless, they are invariably thrown overboard again when dredged up on common grounds. It is thought that the Tyrian dye mentioned frequently in the Bible was extracted from a shell of a somewhat similar kind. Perhaps if the very strong dye that can be extracted from the dog-whelk were made into a fashionable colour like peacock-blue, for aesthetic ornamentation, a market might be found for this extremely objectionable shell-fish. Dog-whelks breed prolifically in the summer near the shore; they appear to prefer the same kind of deposit as oysters for that purpose--the spawn of dog-whelks may frequently be found on oyster-shells, both living and dead, and also on the boundary-lines made of chalk stones showing the low-water marks of oyster layings. The greatest care should be taken to collect and destroy as much of the spawn of this pest as possible, for each dogwhelk that comes to maturity may kill hundreds of oysters. " The eggs of dog-whelks (see plate facing this page) have been frequently mistaken for the eggs of fish. They consist of a number of horn-shaped bags, clustered together." (Buckland.) Each bag is not a single egg, but contains several minute seed-like specks; each of these specks will, if hatched, become a tiny dog-whelk. " When the eggs are hatched, the top of the bag...