Marine Resource Bulletin Vol. 28, No. 2 & 3
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W&M ScholarWorks Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin Virginia Sea Grant Summer 7-1-1996 Marine Resource Bulletin Vol. 28, No. 2 & 3 Virginia Sea Grant Virginia Institute of Marine Science Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/vimsmrb Part of the Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons Recommended Citation Virginia Sea Grant and Virginia Institute of Marine Science, "Marine Resource Bulletin Vol. 28, No. 2 & 3" (1996). Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin. 67. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/vimsmrb/67 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Virginia Sea Grant at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DR. L. DONELSON WRIGHT Dean and Director Virginia Institute of Marine Science School of Marine Science The College of William and Mary DR. WILLIAM RICKARDS Director Virginia College Sea Grant Program DR. WILLIAM D. DUPAUL Director Marine Advisory Services Summer/Fall1996 Vol 28, No.2 & 3 Contents The Experiment 3 I Native Oyster: Its ComplicatedDemise 4 Oyster Shell Use Oyster Biology 8 In Some Sort of Regard The Geographical Distribution of C. virginica, C. gigas and C. rivularis Change,Change, Change Crassostreagigas, Under Scrutiny Mosaics The Plan RecentPublication SUSAN C. W A 1ERS, Editor, Writer and Designer KA Y B. STUBBLEFIELD, Graphic Designer The photographyand illustrationsin the Virginia Marine ResourceBulletin arecopyrighted. Permissionto use artwork must be obtainedfrom the originatorsof the artwork. Artwork credits: cover, IS, 18, Bill Jenkins,Virginia Instituteof Marine Science (VIMS); 4,5,7,9, VIMS archives;pages 8,23, TheAmerican Oy,\'ter:Cra,\'so.\'trea vir~inica, by Paul Galtsoff, U.S. Departmentof the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service,Bureau of CommercialFisheries (the illustrationson the front cover are also from Galtsoff's book); page 1O,Diana Taylor,VIMS; page 13, SusanC. Waters,Virginia SeaGrant, VIMS; page IS, SusannaMusick; page 16, 17, Lee Larkin, Virginia SeaGrant, VIMS; page20, G. B. Ramusio;page 2, JohnGerard; page22, Dover Publications;back cover, John Tenniel,from Alice:\' Adventuresin Wonderland,1865. The Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin is a publication of Marine Advisory Services of the Virginia Sea Grant College Program which is administered by the Virginia Graduate Marine Science Consortium with members at the College of William and Mary, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Subscriptions are available without charge upon written request. The Bulletin is intended as an open forum for ideas. The views expressed do not imply endorsement, nor do they necessarily reflect the official position of Sea Grant of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Sea Grant is a partnership of university, government and industry focusing on marine research, education and advisory senrice. Nationally, Sea Grant began in 1966 with passage of the Sea Grant Program and College Act. Cover photo (from top, clockwise): Crassostreavirginica, Crassostrearivularis, Crassostreagigas, 12Virginia's1011Introductions.7 with scientific assistance from the Shellfish Genetics and Breed:ing-Technology Transfer Services at the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory, Rutgers University. This issue of the Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin is intencled as an informational tool, to provide an overview of the current situation, and to explain the experiments which will be conducted by the Institute. ... ... ... r~e status of the native had to filter through a great deal oyster, Crassostrea of non-nutrients (sediments,for virginica, is bleak. In instance)to obtain their suste- less than a century, the Chesa- nance,oysters higher in the peake Bay's abundant resource water column usually had better dwindled to almost non-existent accessto favorable food condi- levels. The Bay bivalve which tions. Becauseof overfishing prompted the oyster wars, the and shell mining,* the oyster bivalve which was so popular reefs of yesteryeardo not exist. that it was shippedas far as Without these structures, it Europe and Australia during the would be difficult for oystersto 19th century--for all practical feed, fight off diseasesand purposesvanished. developa resistanceto patho- The culprit, or culprits? The gens. causeis bandied about, and is Unfortunately, the already usually diplomatically attributed beleagueredoyster population to a combination of overfishing, faced another challenge,in the disease,and environmental form of two pervasivediseases, stress. While it is true that the Perkinsus marinus and resource'sdemise was the result Haplosporidum nelsoni. The of factors, it is probably more diseases,which do not harm accurate to say that one factor humans, causeearly mortality in led to another until it was too the bivalves, leaving few oysters late. to harvest. Environmental conditions during some of the crucial years favored the disease, Overfishing, were years of high salinity in the Disease, Bay. Despite more than 30 years Environmental of diseaseactivity, the native oyster developedneither toler- Stress ance nor absoluteresistance to The ChesapeakeBay, as we the diseases. In diseaseendemic know it now, is far different than it was 30 or more years ago. *Seethe "Oyster Shell Use" article on page 7 for a fewways shells were utilized. Habitat characteristics have changed. At one point in time, the oyster reefs were a promi- On the right: nent topographicalfeature. Even though oysters on or near in former days of plenty. the bottom of the reef may have areas of Virginia, Crassostrea Filter Feeders Not only is an oyster an virginica did not show any excellentfilterer, it is a habitat recovery. In addition, repletion Extraordinaire, creator, providing niches for all programs failed to restore Habitat Creators sorts of life, forms that will feed permanent production to areas someanimals higher in the food lost to disease. An oyster is a filter feeder. chain. Barnacles,sea anemones, Environmental degradation Stationary in its adult life, the fan worms, hookedmussels, causedby the growth in popula- manner in which it obtains oyster spat, cockles,mud crabs, necessary nutrients is by filter- tion and in land use in the skilletfish, gobies,blennies, ChesapeakeBay region further ing them out of the water. At nudibranches,bryozoans, small complicatesthe picture. The the same time an oyster obtains hydroids, sponges,and sea problems are not limited to sustenance, it may filter out squirts are someof the sedimentsand nutrients; many other substances and, depending inhabitors of oyster reefs in the other elements,and sometoxi- on the substance, may concen- ChesapeakeBay. Benthic, or cants, are part of the mix. trate it. This is basic biology, yet bottom dwelling life, is neededin Toxicants are suspectedof it was not until recent times that the Bay to sustain resident or making oysters more susceptible the benefits of the oyster's migratory fish and crustaceans to diseaseat certain stages,and feeding mechanism were more which rely on this part of the may also interfere with growth fully appreciated. It became Bay for food. and survival.** evident, after the oysters had ... In the best of all possible been depleted in the Chesapeake estuarine worlds, there are many Bay, that the bivalves had been a environmental factors-such as substantial player in improving nutrient availability and tem- water quality. A number of perature-which can have an estimates have bee!l quoted impact on the bivalve during any calculating the amount of time it On the right: one life stage. A whole host of would take the 1870s stock and predators are also part of the that, of a few years ago to filter Oyster shells outside system. Crassostreavirginica the Bay. The much quoted figure a shucking house. has beena resilient animal, for filtering potential contrasts a surviving at least 3.5-4 or more capacity to filter the entire If the oysters were million years.*** Yet it may be volume of the Chesapeake Bay of to be used for that too many natural and man- a few days in the 1870s, to reshelling a bed almost a year in the very recent made factors may have consti- (young oystersprefer tuted an overwhelming set of past. Debate exists about the to settle upon adult shells), estimates, yet there is no doubt obstaclesfor the animal's contin- they would be that filtering the Bay today takes ued level of abundancein the loaded onto a barge. much, much longer than before. ChesapeakeBay. **The exact relationship of pollutants to the onset of diseasein the Virginia oysterhas not beenfully established. In most cases, toxic substancesin low dosesdo not causethe immediate death of an organism. Instead,the substancesmay stressbiota by interfering with normal physiologicalfunctions or by depleting energy or other crucial reserves.Experiments conducted at various times at the Virginia Institute of Marine Scienceindicated that the more the oysterwas stressed,that is exposedto toxins, the more susceptiblethe animal was to disease. ***C. virginica may be older than this. While it is found in the Pliocene,some 3.5 to 4 million years ago,occurrences have been locatedelsewhere in the geologicrecord. The following article summarizes C. irginica grows approximately with it food suspended in the some of the biological aspectsof one inch per year. water: small microscopic plants the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea he oysterfeeds by using its and animals (plankton)