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Some Studies on the New Zealand Oysters

[Introduction]

The exploratory, crawling phase preceding attachment has already been mentioned. Several oysters liberated veliger larvae that subsequently became attached but the actual process of attachment was not observed. Larvae of O. lutaria were observed crawling above the surface water level and these larvae subsequently became firmly attached to the glass wall of the bowl. Also, larvae which became detached floated to the surface of the water and remained alive for as long as 24 hours. Such larvae, it was observed, never attempted resettlement, possibly because the byssus gland cement was secreted during the initial attempt at attachment. During the hours following attachment while the foot was still present, spat were observed defending their attachment area by means of the foot. If several spat settled in very close proximity they kept the foot fully extended. Consequently spat are never attached less than their own distance apart (which is also equal to the length of the foot).