Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 96, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1906 — SOMETHING ABOUT THOSE FISH. [ARTICLE]

SOMETHING ABOUT THOSE FISH.

; ~ % Asphyxiation of Fish Worse Than Boiling of Liobsters. The government hatchery at Gloucester turns millions of cod and halibut out Into the fishing grounds annually, but tbe mackerel take care of themselves. The cod is a cold water Ash, and as the New England coast they congregate there in the winter and early spring, but go to the Labrador coast and tbe ArtfC regions during the summer. Cddfish hatched later than April do not thrive on account of the water being too warm. For that reason the hatcheries turn their attention to lobster hatching during the spring and summer. The lobster is a queer sort of fish, but growing more and more popular all the time. Just now tbe demand Is greater than the supply, for which reason the government. is hatching and turning loose a million or more a day. The eggs of the lobster are attached to the under side of the body of the female, ami as they hatch the young are scraped off by her and set to hustle for themselves. - When first hatched they look like flakes of bran, or rolled oats, and have no semblance whatever of a lobster. They are turned loose anywhere on a rocky coast, or a shallow place. If one of these tiny flakes has luck It will grow to full size in six years. But for every one that has luck a thousand haven’t, but are gobbled up by other lobsters or fish. As yon may know, the bright red color of the lobster you see in the market is caused by chucking the living lobster into boiling water or a steam vat. This seems awfully cruel at first, but on second thought it is not nearly as "bad as throwing fish out of water and allowing them to slowly die by asphyxiation. The lobster’s death is sudden and painless, while that.of its scaly brother Is slow’, if not painful. , Scientists tell us that fish and other cold-blooded creatures are scarcely sensible of pain at all. But whether fish may suffer or not, it is not pleasant to see them gasping for breath and struggling to get back into tbe water.—Pittsburg Times-Ga-zette.