Lobsters bury former self.

Enmos

Enmos

Valued Senior Member
I saw a program about lobsters on NCG today.
They said that lobsters often bury the shed cuticula after molting.
Well, after they nibble on it a bit.
Supposedly they reclaim important minerals that way that help strengthen the new cuticula quicker.
They didn't know why the lobsters do it but thought they do it to hide the fact that they recently molted (after molting lobsters are soft and are therefor vulnerable to attack).
I wanted to learn more about this behavior, but I can't find anything about it on the internet.
Any help ?

lobster3.jpg

American Lobster (Homarus americanus)
 
chickens do it too. My Mom used to feed them egg shells every now and then. Not too often or they would start breaking their own eggs and eating the shells.

And I don't understand why they would bury it either. Why not just move along and pretend its not yours? Why spend the time/energy burying it? Do they come back for it later to nibble on?
 
Orleander said:
chickens do it too. My Mom used to feed them egg shells every now and then. Not too often or they would start breaking their own eggs and eating the shells.

And I don't understand why they would bury it either. Why not just move along and pretend its not yours? Why spend the time/energy burying it? Do they come back for it later to nibble on?
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They only thing I can think of is what the researches already thought.
Maybe lobsters don't travel too much and hang around the same area.
Any predator learning about newly shed exuvia's might go looking for a nice soft snack in the surroundings.
I don't think they come back later to nibble, at least the program didn't mention anything about it.
 
My crayfish would do the same. I rarely had the chance to see its old exoskeleton because it would eat it almost instantly. Then again that crayfish would eat anything, including other fishes (despite what the petshop said :mad:).
 
globenstein said:
My crayfish would do the same. I rarely had the chance to see its old exoskeleton because it would eat it almost instantly. Then again that crayfish would eat anything, including other fishes (despite what the petshop said :mad:).
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I tried to look up a video of a lobster burying it's exuvia on youtube, but I couldn't find any.
I did find a lot of videos starring murderous lobsters and crayfish.
Some attacked and/or ate fish, others bristle worms.
Yet another one attacked some weird looking frogs.. lol
 
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there has to be a lot of calcium in it. Makes his new shell stronger. I don't know why the lobster wouldn't eat it all, like the crawdad does.

and thanks glob, I didn't know they did it as well.
 
Orleander said:
there has to be a lot of calcium in it. Makes his new shell stronger. I don't know why the lobster wouldn't eat it all, like the crawdad does.

and thanks glob, I didn't know they did it as well.
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It may be unnatural behavior though.
They are after all in an aquarium, not their natural habitat.
 
Lobsters also bury their food for future consumption. Interestingly, they do not do it near their "home" probably for fear of attracting predators; this burying of the exoskeleton, has anyone ever seen if they come back to eat from it?
 
S.A.M. said:
Lobsters also bury their food for future consumption. Interestingly, they do not do it near their "home" probably for fear of attracting predators; this burying of the exoskeleton, has anyone ever seen if they come back to eat from it?
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Interesting, thanks :)
Do you have any links ?

With this information, it may be plausible that they do bury their exuvia for future consumption.
 
I'll look for links later. If you have a lobster in a tank at home, you have to be careful not to give them too much food, cos they bury it and then the tank becomes putrid from the decomposing food matter.

This reminds me of a blog article on the Ice Shrimp

In the Winter season, from March through August, the Ice Shrimp enters two different metabolic states in order to conserve energy. In torpor, it remains viable but motionless, simply waiting for food to come along rather than scouting for it. If it has gone more than a month without food, it will bury itself in the substrate of the ocean floor and then freeze itself until September, when the Summer season begins and food becomes more abundant.

Source

Interesting, isn't it?
 
S.A.M. said:
I'll look for links later. If you have a lobster in a tank at home, you have to be careful not to give them too much food, cos they bury it and then the tank becomes putrid from the decomposing food matter.

This reminds me of a blog article on the Ice Shrimp

In the Winter season, from March through August, the Ice Shrimp enters two different metabolic states in order to conserve energy. In torpor, it remains viable but motionless, simply waiting for food to come along rather than scouting for it. If it has gone more than a month without food, it will bury itself in the substrate of the ocean floor and then freeze itself until September, when the Summer season begins and food becomes more abundant.

Source

Interesting, isn't it?
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It is, thanks for the link :)
Now excuse me while I shoot some alcohol out of my anus.. :D
 
Enmos said:
I saw a program about lobsters on NCG today.
They said that lobsters often bury the shed cuticula after molting.
Well, after they nibble on it a bit.
Supposedly they reclaim important minerals that way that help strengthen the new cuticula quicker.
They didn't know why the lobsters do it but thought they do it to hide the fact that they recently molted (after molting lobsters are soft and are therefor vulnerable to attack).
I wanted to learn more about this behavior, but I can't find anything about it on the internet.
Any help ?

lobster3.jpg

American Lobster (Homarus americanus)
Click to expand...

I can't find any peer review on this at all - the only clue I can find is here:

http://www.nationalaquarium.ie/species/lobsterProfile.php

"Lobsters, like all crustaceans, moult (shed their shell) to grow. When a Lobster is ready to moult, it jack-knifes its shell* between the back and tail, and squeezes out the gap. It leaves behind the shell of the body, legs and antennae, as well as its gills and the coverings of its eyes. The newly moulted Lobster is protected only by a new, very soft, jelly-like shell and must hide amongst weed or in its cave as at this stage is very vulnerable to attack from other Lobsters, Crabs or even fish such as Wrasse. Over the next several hours the new shell begins to absorb water and expands and hardens. During this time the Lobster grows by around 15%. After 2 or 3 days the Lobster has hardened enough to venture from its cave, and it nips out to bury its old shell in the sea-bed. It goes back into hiding again for a further 4 or 5 days, by which time the Lobster has fully hardened. It then returns to dig up the old shell and eat it! It does this to help replace minerals lost during the moult such as Calcium. The Lobster will eat all the old shell except the claws."

so it would appear that the reason they do this is to store the old cuticula for later consumption, while it waits for its new shell to harden sufficiently for it to be safe to emerge
 
synthesizer-patel said:
I can't find any peer review on this at all - the only clue I can find is here:

http://www.nationalaquarium.ie/species/lobsterProfile.php

"Lobsters, like all crustaceans, moult (shed their shell) to grow. When a Lobster is ready to moult, it jack-knifes its shell* between the back and tail, and squeezes out the gap. It leaves behind the shell of the body, legs and antennae, as well as its gills and the coverings of its eyes. The newly moulted Lobster is protected only by a new, very soft, jelly-like shell and must hide amongst weed or in its cave as at this stage is very vulnerable to attack from other Lobsters, Crabs or even fish such as Wrasse. Over the next several hours the new shell begins to absorb water and expands and hardens. During this time the Lobster grows by around 15%. After 2 or 3 days the Lobster has hardened enough to venture from its cave, and it nips out to bury its old shell in the sea-bed. It goes back into hiding again for a further 4 or 5 days, by which time the Lobster has fully hardened. It then returns to dig up the old shell and eat it! It does this to help replace minerals lost during the moult such as Calcium. The Lobster will eat all the old shell except the claws."

so it would appear that the reason they do this is to store the old cuticula for later consumption, while it waits for its new shell to harden sufficiently for it to be safe to emerge
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks Synth !
I guess this is 'case closed' then :)
 
On the documentary series "Life in cold blood" there was a kind of snake which almost exclusively fed on freshly moulted crayfish, it would flick it's tongue underwater to taste the scent of exoskeleton on the currents, then it would track down the jelly-like former tenants.

Actually, it might have just been tasting their meaty softness on the currents, so could be unrelated.
 
Dr Lou Natic said:
On the documentary series "Life in cold blood" there was a kind of snake which almost exclusively fed on freshly moulted crayfish, it would flick it's tongue underwater to taste the scent of exoskeleton on the currents, then it would track down the jelly-like former tenants.

Actually, it might have just been tasting their meaty softness on the currents, so could be unrelated.
Click to expand...

There are hormones and other chemical signals involved in Ecdysis so its not unfeasable that the snake is sniffing those out.

There are even certain species (mostly hydroids IIRC) that secrete the same hormone that induces ecdysis in certain marine crustaceans - its thought that its a defence mechanism, as any crusties that come along and eat them suddely find their shells falling off :eek: - I don't think there's any peer review been published on it yet, but one of the post-docs I know is working on it.
 
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