ARTIFICIAL CULTURE AND GROWTH OF THE LOBSTER.* 



BY PROFESSOR EHRENBAUM, HELGOLAND. 



Since I reported in No. 5 of the volume for 1903 of these "Mit- 

 teikingen" in regard to recent, especially the Norwegian, researches 

 (by A. Appellof) on the lobster, the question of satisfactory procedure 

 in the artificial rearing of lobsters has been worked at pretty actively, 

 and — as must be added — not without success. Apropos of a report 

 on fisheries at the World's Fair in St. Louis ("Mitteihmgen" vol. 

 for 1905, p. 259-294), I have already pointed out what a lively in- 

 terest the American Fish Commission especially has shown in recent 

 years in lobster culture and with what remarkable success their 

 efforts have been crowned. 



To-day the problem can be looked upon as practically solved, and^ 

 since it has gone so far in the United States that after many and 

 varied experiments a system has been worked out which can be 

 operated practicallj^, it therefore appears timely to give to a wider 

 circle of persons interested a view into the condition of things and 

 to set forth the prospects that open up for the future. 



For better understanding, let us here again call attention briefl}^ 

 to some important points in the life history of the lobster, and at the 

 same time point out the difficulties that lie in the prol^lem of artificial 

 lobster culture. 



While artificial fish culture starts always with the fertilization of 

 sexual products ripe for deposition, the conditions in the case of the 

 lobster are decidedly different. The fertilization of the mature eggs, 

 which probably follows immediately after their extrusion from the 



♦Translated from the "Mitfeilungen des Deutschen Seefischerei-Vereins" vol. 23, No. 6, 

 June 1907, p. 178-189. 



