12 ABOUT LOBSTERS 



further bleeding until a skin is formed. When a claw plug is 

 lost, however, the lobster does not so readily cease to bleed, 

 probably due to internal injury to the flesh of the claw 

 caused by the insertion of the plug. Thus a lost plug is 

 very likely to cause the death of the lobster unless it is kept 

 in sea water. A few lobstermen recognize this frailty and 

 keep half a barrel of circulating sea water in the cockpit. 

 The plugged lobsters are dropped into this barrel and are 

 protected by the salt water from bleeding until a clot has 

 formed. 



The " throwing " of a claw does not occur between any 

 of the joints but always at one particular point, near the up- 

 per end of the second or double joint, where it is smallest 

 and encircled by a distinct groove. The claw cannot be 

 broken off at this or any other place by main force without 

 injury to the lobster, yet the lobster is able to " throw " its 

 claw without any fuss or warning. 



It is a common belief of lobstermen that a lobster * * 

 which has lost a claw or been seriously maimed in any 

 way will not shed until the injury has been repaired. 

 One lobsterman, whose statements are respected, re- 

 ports that bleeding can be stopped and the woimd 

 " cauterized " by applying ice, and that the shell of a 

 soft lobster can be temporarily hardened by ice. 



Migration 



Most lobstermen agree that lobsters move offshore 

 in cold weather and are sluggish and not eager for 

 food. It is a fact hard to prove. It may be that lobsters 

 have an instinct to protect themselves from the deep 

 waves of winter storms, and that this instinct is trig- 

 gered by the approach of cold weather. Thus any sea- 

 ward migration might be in search of deeper, safer 

 water rather than for warmer water. A plausible argu- 

 ment can be presented that lobsters hibernate some- 

 what like bears, and hardly move at all. The certain 

 fact is that they are little attracted by bait in winter. 



