Abstract
THE summer of 1924 was remarkable for an unusually large and heavy growth of the shell of native oysters on most beds in England. In a recent survey of the Fal Estuary oyster beds, full details of which it is hoped will be published later, it was found that a total shoot (i.e. maximum increase in height or depth of a shell in a ventral direction) of 30 or more millimetres was quite common. Similar large shoots have been observed in shells from East Coast and other beds in 1924. The fact that the summer of 1924 was not a warm one is a matter of common knowledge and of great interest in connexion with the unusual shell-growth. In warm summers, such as we had in 1921, a big growth of shell is usual, but is then attributed to the generally increased metabolism following upon a high temperature, when biological conditions are otherwise satisfactory; but the rate of shell-growth of the oyster (i.e. increase in shell-area, and total in crease in shell-weight) under any continuously known conditions is still undetermined. It is, therefore, not possible to state what are the precise conditions which are essential for normal or abnormal shell-growth. These conditions, like those in many other problems relating to the oyster, may not be determined until greater concerted attention can be given to what is admittedly a valuable mollusc. In the meantime it may be worth while to summarise a few observations on the subject.
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ORTON, J. The Conditions for Calcareous Metabolism in Oysters and other Marine Animals. Nature 116, 13 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116013a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116013a0
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