Chapter V.— ENEMIES OF THE LOBSTER. 

 PREDACEOUS ENEMIES. 



The adult lobster, whether with eggs attached to its body or no t, is the prey of numer- 

 ous fish which feed upon the sea bottom, like the sharks, skates, and rays. When of 

 considerable size or in soft condition it is also devoured by the cod, pollock, striped 



bass, sea bass, tautog, and probably by many other species. In fact every predaceous 

 Ssh which feeds upon the bottom may be looked upon in general as an enemy ot the 

 Igbgisf. 



Next to man with his traps, the codfish is probably the most destructiv e enemy 

 of the lobster, for it not only takes in the soft and hard shell animals alike up to 8 inches 

 or more in length, but is very partial to the young from 2 to 4 inches long . 



If the lobster is thus attacked and destroyed in large numbers by fish after it has 

 acquired the habits of the adult and has many devices to avoid its enemies, what shall 

 we say of the destruction which is wrought on the young during the first three or four 

 weeks of their life ? I^'rom the time of hatching up to from the fourth or fifth stage the 

 young I nhcjfpr switng g<- thp ?,nT"face and becomes an easy prey to all surface-feeding 

 fish, some of which, like the menhaden, roam about in vast schools, straining the ^yater as 

 effectively as the towing net. When lobsters settle in relatively shallow water the 

 greedy cunners or even fish of smaller size would doubtless prove vastly more destructive. 

 Duri ng this period the lobster measures from one-third to three-fiifths of an inch in length, 

 and is not only helpless in the hands of its animate enemies, but is subject to a vast 

 amou nt of indiscriminate destruction from the forces of inanimate nature. 



PARASITES AND MESSMATES. 



But two parasites in the strict sense have thus far bee n known to infest the lobster, 

 alt hough it is pro ^jihlp <^>iat nf^frs will he discovered. One of these, a trematode worm 

 {Siichocotyie nep hropis) first noticed in the intestine of the Norwegian lobster, was later 

 detected in thp Ameriran form, about 2 per cent of these animals being infested by it . 

 Its final host is probably some species of fish which preys upon the lobster, but the adult 

 trematode is unknown. 



The only other stri c t parasite which has been found to trouble the adult lobster is the 

 large gregarine (Greparina aiaantea) , discovered in the intestine of the European lobster 

 by Van Beneden {269). 



215 



