Life Sciences Commons^™

The Fungus Lagenidium Callinectes Couch (1942) On Eggs Of The Blue Crab In Chesapeake Bay., Rosalie Rogers-Talbert

VIMS Articles

In 1941 a parasitic fungus was first observed on the eggs of many obtained from natural spawning areas in Chesapeake Bay (Sandoz, Rogers, Newcombe, 1944). Dr. John N. Couch of the University of North Carolina examined infected samples and recognized the parasite to be a new species, he named Lagenidiiin callinectes Couch (1942).

Marked annual fluctuations in the commercial catches of the blue crab Callinectes sapidus Rathbun (1895) have taken place. The discovery of the egg raised the questions of how it affects the development of the crab embryo, percentage of the eggs of a crab may be infected, and …

Early Life History Of The Oyster Crab, Pinnotheres Ostreum (Say), Mildred Sandoz, Sewell H. Hopkins

VIMS Articles

The first and second zoeae of Pinnotheres ostreum have been described Hyman (1924). The five crab stages parasitic in the oyster (Ostrea virginica) have been described by Stauber (1945). The present paper is an attempt to plete the knowledge of the development of the oyster crab from the egg to the first crab instar. This work was done at the Virginia Fisheries Laboratory in summer of 1944, under the direction of Dr. Curtis L. Newcombe.

The first Pinnotherid larva to be described was the zoea of Pinnotheres pisum Leach, the British pea crab. This species has three or more zoeae. …

Ecological And Physiological Studies Of The Effect Of Sulfate Pulp Mill Wastes On Oysters In The York River, Virginia, Paul Galtsoff, Walter Chipman Jr., James B. Engle, Howard N. Calderwood

VIMS Articles

This study of the York River and issues impacting the oyster fishery provides historical information on the river's physical and chemical conditions (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, currents, etc.) effluent observations, history and data of the oyster fishery, oyster condition, biological and pathological work and experimental studies.

The project studies were responsible for the establishment of a fisheries laboratory in Yorktown, Va.

p. 59 - "Funds for the York River investigations were made available in 1935 by a special allotment from the Public Works Administration. Continuation of the project was made possible by regular allotments by the Bureau of Fisheries …

Research Seeks To Expand New Fishery, J.G. Mackin, R. Winston Menzel

VIMS Articles

(...) In 1940, the ribbed mussels, Volsella demissus, of Tidewater Virginia were discovered by Du Pont chemists to be rich in this "provitamin D." This discovery was followed immediately by the development of a mussel fishery on the "Seaside" of Virginia's Eastern Shore peninsula, the activity centering on the large intertidal marshes where the mussels grow and in the shucking houses along the water fronts of shore towns where the mussels are steamed, shucked, and packed for shipment. This fishery has since constituted the country's principal available "provitamin D" source, and large war demands for eggs and poultry meat have …

Future Of The Virginia Oyster Industry, Curtis L. Newcombe, R. Winston Menzel

VIMS Articles

CHESAPEAKE BAY has long been famous for its oysters. Shared by Maryland and Virginia, this natural resource contributes greatly to the economic life of about thirty Tidewater counties. Virginia oyster grounds extend approximately half way up the bay and reach far up the numerous tributaries. In addition, there are thousands of acres of oyster grounds on the Sea Side of the Eastern Shore.

Despite the magnitude of the acreage adapted for growing oysters, comparatively little effort has been made to find out just how valuable the industry is to the state or to explore its possibilities for development. Federal statistics …

The External Morphology Of The Third And Fourth Zoeal Stages Of The Blue Crab, Callinectes Sapidus Rathbun, Sewell H. Hopkins

VIMS Articles

For the past two years, workers at the Virginia Fisheries Laboratory, Williams- burg, have been attempting to rear larvae of the commercially important blue crab from the egg through all zoeal stages. In 1941 Dr. Margaret S. Lochhead worked out a successful method of hatching the eggs (Lochhead, Lochhead and Newcombe, 1942) and reared the larvae to the "second zoea" stage. During the summers of 1942 and 1943 this work was continued by Mrs. Mildred Sandoz and Miss Rosalie Rogers, who succeeded in rearing a number of individuals to the "third zoea" stage. The anatomy of the first and second …

The Effect Of Environmental Factors On Hatching, Moulting, And Survival Of Zoeal Larvae Of The Blue Crab, Callinectes Sapidus Rathbun, Mildred Sandoz, Rosalie M. Rogers

VIMS Articles

The blue crab constitutes a major fishery of the Chesapeake Bay amount- ing in 1939 to about fifty-seven million pounds. During the past two decades there have been pronounced fluctuations in the catches attributed to weather conditions and to industrial practices. Thus, from 1939 to 1941 the crab catch declined over 50% in Maryland and about 40% in Virginia (U. S. Fishery Statistics, '41). Since then there has been a marked increase in production.

For successful management of the fishery, further biological information is required to provide a sound basis for conservation policy. The particular biological problem with which we …

Seafoods : Their Wartime Role In Maintaining Nutritional Standards, Curtis L. Newcombe, Grace J. Blank

VIMS Articles

Recent years have witnessed improved dietary changes, due largely to an increase in knowledge of nutrition and to a wide dissemination of this knowledge.

Since about 1915 there has been a significant upward trend in· the consumption of milk, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, and citrus fruits-the so-called protective foods-all of which are extremely rich in those nutrients that are often deficient in low-cost diets. The total weight of food consumed per person per year has remained fairly constant, but there has been a downward trend for meats, grain products, and potatoes, and the use of the protective foods has been …

Steps Toward Crab Conservation In Chesapeake Bay, Mildred Sandoz

VIMS Articles

Blue crabs have increased in abundance in Chesapeake Bay since 1941, but In that year an acute shortage developed which threatened the entire fishery. 'IThe serious decline of the fishery, which began in 1940, demonstrated the necessity of finding a way of assuring rapid recovery and preventing a recurrence of similar shortages. One significant step in this direction was taken by the Commission of Fisheries of Virginia in 1941, upon the request of the Hampton Crab Packers Association. A large sanctuary was established at the mouth of the bay, closed to crab fishing during July and August, to protect egg-bearing …

Methods Of Hatching Eggs Of The Blue Crab, Margaret S. Lochhead, Curtis L. Newcombe

VIMS Articles

The blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, is the only important marketable crustacean in Chesapeake Bay. While this body of water may be regarded as a center of its numerical distribution, blue crabs in the United States range from Cape Cod south to Texas. Their economic importance is indicated by records of the Federal Government which report for the four-year period 1936-39, an annual average of over 82 million hard crabs valued at about $526,000 from Virginia and 56 million worth about $382,000 from Maryland. Soft crab catches in the two states during this period were approximately the same, amounting in …

Observations On The Conservation Of The Chesapeake Blue Crab, Callinectes Sapidus Rathbun, Curtis L. Newcombe, Ellen H. Gray

VIMS Articles

It is a matter of common knowledge among conservationists that the blue crab supply of the Chesapeake is rapidly declining, being reduced from a level of about 17 millions in 1931 to that of about 10 million crabs in 1937. (Md. Rept. 1937). Numerous explanations have been advanced to account for this decline. One outstanding reason is the taking of such large numbers of "sponge" (berried) crabs and mated female crabs, a practice which undoubtedly reduces the potential supply of young crabs for the ensuing year.

Another menace to the survival of the blue crab lies in the way in …

Conserving Our Salt-Water Fisheries: Work Of The Virginia Fisheries Laboratory, Curtis L. Newcombe

VIMS Articles

Even the casual visitor to many of our small Tidewater Virginia fishing communities will see signs of diminishing prosperity. A prosperous era has been succeeded by a period of lower economic and social levels.

What are the underlying causes of this declining trend? In facing this problem, so broad in its scope and so serious in its effect, the Virginia Fisheries Laboratory has, during the past year, effected an organization for analyzing conditions in our commercial fisheries and for disseminating facts about them and the need for their conservation.