ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 

 BULLETIN 



Published by the New York Zoological Society 



Vol. XX 



MARCH, 1917 



Number 2 



THE SPINY LOBSTER 



By Chapman Grant. 



THE spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) is se- 

 cretive in its habits, wandering out at night 

 over the shallow grass flats in search of 

 dead fish, vegetable matter or small inverte- 

 brates. By day it hides in crevices among the 

 coral reefs or under rocks or old wrecks or any 

 place that will afford shelter from its legion of 

 enemies. 



The female carries her eggs pasted to her 

 swimmerettes, like bunches of minute grapes. 

 When the young hatch, very different in form 

 from the adult, they swim away to undergo a 

 progressive metamorphosis with each successive 

 moult of their shells. The small lobsters from 

 two to six inches in length are not ordinarily 

 seen, but careful search will reveal them hiding 

 in tiny nooks or even in the pores of large log- 

 gerhead sponges. The adult male is similar in 

 color and markings to the female, but has much 

 longer legs. 



The hard armor of Panulirus is sufficient pro- 

 tection from small fish, but it seeks the safety 

 of a deep recess when ready to moult. As actu- 

 ally observed at the New York Aquarium, the 

 shell splits across the back immediately behind 

 the carapace and the lobster springs out, a 

 defenceless creature. Lime is soon deposited on 

 the soft skin whiqli places the lobster again on 

 an equal footing of preparedness with its kind. 

 It dare not venture into the open in the day 

 time, however, lest a large grouper or jewfish 

 take it in whole. 



In cold weather large numbers of lobsters can 

 be seen among the mangrove roots in very shal-, 

 low water, taking advantage of the rays of the 

 sun. They hide facing the danger, with their 

 antennae or even the fore part of their bodies 



exposed, trusting to their sharp forward pointing 

 spines for protection and tcT'their long whips for 

 warning. In the open a lobster swims rapidly 

 by violent contractions of its tail. This can 

 readily be illustrated by opening and closing the 

 four fingers, held together, against the palm of 

 the hand. The fingers represent the tail, and 

 the hand the body of the lobster. It thus will 

 be seen that the crayfish swims backwards, the 

 antennae trailing and pointed at a pursuer. The 

 feelers now serve the same purpose as the tail 

 of a lizard — for steering and as a tactile organ. 

 If touched by a pursuer the lobster can swerve, 

 but if the enemy actually gets hold of the sharp- 

 ly serrated feelers they will break off. allowing 

 it to escape and grow new ones. The fish does 

 not even get an appetizer as does the pursuer 

 of a lizard who often eats a toothsome, wrig- 

 gling tail ; the lizard escaping to grow another 

 entree. It will be seen that the protection of 

 the lobster grows from its head, but since it 

 swims backwards the analogy to the lizard holds 

 good. Our interesting slang expression "to craw- 

 fish" (meaning to back out of a difficulty) orig- 

 inated from this crustacean manner of swim- 

 ming. The trigger fish with its protruding 

 mouth and teeth can swim up to a lobster at 

 bay and nonchalantly snip an eye from under 

 the strong, sharp spine which protects that mem- 

 ber from ordinary attack. For this reason the 

 trigger fish cannot be kept in the same live-car 

 with lobsters. 



The spiny lobster is captured in a number of 

 ways. Feeding over the grass flats at night in 

 shallow water, it is taken by fishermen equipped 

 witli a torch, who either wade or scull. A 

 "bulimy," that is, a small hoop net set at right 

 anffles to the handle is used for night work. In 



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