Posted on 12/05/2012 10:03:53 PM PST by nickcarraway
The humble Maine Lobster has been exposed as a cannibal. University of Maine graduate student Noah Oppenheim and advisor Dr. Rick Wahle presented work at “The American Lobster in a Changing Ecosystem” symposium in Portland, Maine this last week, that showed lobsters prey on themselves in the wild. This phenomena had been seen in captivity, but recent experiments with cameras and tethered lobsters have shown this also happens in the wild. Is this a new behavior or one just not spotted before? It’s hard to tell, but populations of lobster in Maine have been skyrocketing. The catch of Maine lobsters rose to 104 million pounds last year (a record), compared with 23 million pounds in 1981; and 2012 is expected to be a bumper year too. Overfishing of species that feed on lobsters in the wild (e.g. cod and halibut) is likely to blame, and now it seems there are so many lobsters in the Gulf of Maine, they’re bumping into, and feeding, on one another. I’ll be sure to be more careful diving around them in the future……
Old news to me, although it isn’t the most common behavior for them. Lobsters kept in tanks at the supermarket too long will attempt to cannibalize each other if their claws aren’t kept bound closed.
Many other animal species exhibit occasional cannibalism, even pigs (I’m sure most people heard of sows that have a calcium deficiency cannibalizing piglets).
can’t blame them. Lobsters are tasty.
I don’t care how tasty it is, you’d think they would get tired of seafood.. jus sayin.. :)
Hannibal Lobster
Do they feel guilty when they are sticking them in the boilng water?
Now that ain’t kosher.
Well now, I guess I don’t need to feel sorry for them when I pass by their aquarium at the grocery store anymore.
I have a lobster rehabilitation program whereby I introduce sympathy for their common fellow and de-program them from
cannibalistic tendencies. Ship me your lobsters that are acting up.
Actually, I think that infant predation is almost universal in nature, under adverse conditions. It’s certainly the most common type of cannibalism, present in a lot of species that don’t engage in cannibalism against adults.
We’ve outgrown that barbarism though. We don’t eat the young we kill anymore.
Must be Republicans
It never happened until a freighter of melted butter capsized in 2002.
Haha, great thread.
+1
MMmmm...lobster-fed lobster. Yum!
TC
The Lobster Whisperer, -——Burp!
Don't tell Sasquatch. She'll make sure the population drops significantly.
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