July 25, 2013 part two

Our sea glass finds from yesterday, left side a clear glass door knob, rare orange piece, pottery, blue pieces, 4 inch by 1/2 inch clear tube, bottom of medicine bottle

SOME TRIVIA ABOUT LOBSTER

Lobsters navigate by smell: taste with their feet: listen with their legs

Their  "brains" are in their throats, and their teeth are in their stomachs

They will eat each other in a pinch.

They can "throw a claw", meaning discharge it from their body and grow a brand new one.

Long before they were a delicacy, lobsters were fed to prisoners and servants.  The law limited the number of days lobster could be fed to prisoners before it became abuse.

A female is a "hen".  A male is "cock, a little guy is a "chicken", "pistol" has no claws, and 

a "cull" has just one.

Typically lobsters are a dark colour when they are pulled from the water but their shells turn bright red when cooked.

There are about 1,300 lobster boats in the province of P.E.I., which is higher per capita than any other province with a commercial fishery.  Lobsters account for 2/3 to 3/4 of the annual PEI fishing income, with a total catch of approx. 20 million pounds each year.

PEI  BLUE MUSSELS

Cultured mussels are grow in PEI's 19 sheltered salt water rivers, bays or estuaries

Mussels are important to PEI.  More than 1,500 people are employed in the industry annually and exports exceed $30 million.

Cultured mussels are a protein-rich seafood product which provide many nutrients and minerals, while being low in fat, sodium and cholesterol. They are one of natures perfect food sources since they contain Vitamin C, iron, zinc, and omega-3 acids.

There is more than 125 growers who cover more than 10,500 acres of water on PEI.

Cultured mussels are grown on mess socks suspended from buoyed rope longlines, strung tight and anchored in the water.  The socks are filled with seed mussels, and suspend from the longlines.

Cultured mussels have shiny blue-black shells.

A mussel is cooked when the shell opens and you can see the delicious meat inside.

Mussels can live up to 50 years but cultured ones are typically harvested around 28
months old.

The byssus on the mussel is the beard (fine hairlike threads found at one end of the shell)
that the mussel uses to attach itself to surfaces.