92 ABOUT LOBSTERS 



no success. In these experiments, the salt concentration 

 of the water was about 30 per 1000. It was established 

 that ordinary salt ( kitchen salt ) had a fatal effect on the 

 lobster even after only a few hours' storage in the water. 

 The reason for this is the lack of the other mineral salts 

 mentioned in the recipe. 



Other products are commercially sold under trade 

 names and have been examined. It is true that these 

 salts have all been extracted from natural sea water by 

 evaporation, but since the various kinds of salt do not 

 crystallize to the same extent, the salt mixture often 

 varies and is very far from the composition of natural 

 sea water. Analyses also show considerable differences 

 in the composition of the mentioned salts. It should be 

 noted as an important fact that the calcium content of 

 all the mentioned products is small. Although this com- 

 ponent is only found in relatively small quantities in 

 natural sea water, it is absolutely essential to the lob- 

 ster. 2 



The Sea and Shore Fisheries bulletin gives three formu- 

 las for artificial sea water. These formulas are more compli- 

 cated, but they come from The Oceans, The Chemistry and 

 Biology of Sea Water by Sverdrup et al, and should be 

 superior. 



Experiments have also proved that artificial sea 

 water seems to be quite as useful as natural sea water. 

 Lobsters have easily been able to remain alive in both 

 kinds of water for months. 



It has been maintained that the lobster once re- 

 moved from a storage tank containing artificial sea 

 water quickly becomes weak and limp; this has led to a 

 further examination of lobsters which had been stored 

 in artificial sea water for about two weeks. After being 

 removed from the tank, they were kept in cold, moist 

 air at about 50° F. They remained so for almost two 



Bramsnaes and Boetius, op. cit. 



