THE TOHEROA

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3631, 28 April 1927, Page 4

THE TOHEROA

ITS LIFE HISTORY.

HOW THE YOUNG HATCH. Marvellous are the means which Nature has provided the various species for the successful propagation of their kind, says a writer in the Auckland Star. Perhaps the ■most remarkable instance among our New Zealand fauna is that of the toheroa. Most of us are acquainted in some way with the delightful dishes produced from this shellfish, but there much of our interest ends. To the more curious, however, the story of its life is the most remarkable thing about it. With the approach of spring, and when the tides are at their highest, the toheroa leaves its home on the beach sands and makes its way to high-water mark. Here the female deposits her spawn, which is fertilised by the male in the manner customary among fishes. At this time of the year the prevailing westerly winds are fairly forceful, and blow, of course, towards the shore. The eggs, naturally very minute and very light, are blown by the breeze from the beach on to the land immediately above. Generally speaking, this land is in the form of sandhills, and the eggs soon become wrapped in a covering of fine sand. The warm sun quickly causes animation, and after three A visitor to the Ninety Mile weeks’ time the eggs have hatched. Beach during the month of September would immediately be struck by the presence of myriads of “moths” Hying from the sandhills on to the damp sands of the beach. These “moths” are nothing more nor less than the young toheroas, which, awaiting a favourable opportunity, when the breeze is blowing seawards, spread their flimsy shells, and, using them as wings, glide down from their temporary abode to a permanent home on the ocean sands. Immediately the little creatures reach the beach their shells close and harden, and the young fish have to fend for themselves. At first they inhabit the sand in the region just below high-water mark, but proceed further down the beach as they grow older and larger.