David Belding, a medical doctor by training, conducted and published the most comprehensive studies of shellfish on outer Cape Cod - true to this day!  Dr. Belding worked out of an oyster shack converted to a laboratory, perched on the wharf of the Chequessett Inn.  His data are still used today and his photographs provide a glimpse into the history of shellfishing in Wellfleet.
  • David L. Belding. 1911. A Report upon the Quahaug and Oyster Fisheries of Massachusetts, including the life history, growth and cultivation of the quahaug (Venus mercenaria), and observations on the set of oyster spat in Wellfleet Bay. Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Contribution #12: 134 pp., 69 illustrations.  [Click here to see images from this work]