Even Oysters Do It!

Did you know that Horseshoe crabs mate at the Full Moon and have been doing so for 400 million years? Cicero and Pliny observed that oysters and shellfish in general grow with the cycle of the Moon. Fishermen know that crabs are largest at the Full Moon and eels begin migration just after the Full Moon. It has also been found that fish bite more when the Moon is rising and setting.

Frank A. Brown, Jr. conducted a famous experiment in which he transported oysters from Long Island to Illinois. He knew that oysters feed every 12.5 hours (half the lunar day). On arrival in Illinois, Brown wired the oysters in a salt water tray so that he could monitor when they opened their shells. After two weeks of opening up and feeding at the same time as in Long Island, they changed their schedule to the cycles of the tide in Illinois (upper and lower transits of the Moon had the town in Illinois been coastal). In other words, they were reacting to the Moon in their new location…

Get yourself a notebook or diary and monitor the effects of the Full Moon so that you can see for yourself how closely intertwined we are with Moon phases. These are some of the things that you might monitor:

- World events

- Menstrual cycle

- Depression and nervous tension in people

- Weather

- Sexual appetite

- Pets’ behavior