Lobsters

Alex Re

Hello, welcome to on wildlife. I'm your host, Alex Re. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you, we take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week. And I guarantee you, you're gonna come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. This episode, we're heading under the sea to talk about an animal that you may know more of on a dinner plate than you do in its natural habitat. These animals are socially complex and may hold the secret to living a longer life. So join me as we travel to the bottom of the ocean to talk about lobsters.

lobsters can be found in every ocean in the world, and there are many different species of them, you may be the most familiar with the American lobster, they live at the bottom of the ocean because they can't really swim, their main mode of movement is crawling. And you might notice that they have a huge tail that looks like a fin for swimming, but it's actually more for helping them crawl. lobsters have 10 legs, including their two front legs that have large claws on them. And we'll talk about what these claws are used for later on. In the podcast. lobsters are classified as crustaceans, fitting into the same category as crabs. And they're also invertebrates mean that they don't have a spine like you and me. Instead, they have a really hard outer shell called an exoskeleton. All the soft, mushy stuff is on the inside of their bodies. insects, spiders, and other crustaceans are all invertebrates. And each one of these has their own exoskeleton. And if you've ever seen a live lobster, they're not actually red. They're mostly either blue or brown. They only turn red after they're cooked because of the properties of their pigments when they're heated up. You may have heard the myth that lobsters can live forever. But this isn't necessarily true. They're thought to live for around 50 years in the wild. But the interesting part about this is that nobody really knows how old they can get. Because there isn't a precise way of figuring this out. A lot of scientists look at their size and the amount of rings that they have on their body to get an approximate age estimate. But lobsters do live for a pretty long time. And it's thought that they never stop growing. How are they able to do this? Well, first we have to think about why they can keep growing and why we seem to deteriorate over time. We have DNA in every cell in our bodies. And when our cells want to make more cells, they have to copy that DNA. But every time that DNA gets copied, a little piece of it gets broken off. This piece of DNA is called a telomere. And it's like a protective cap on DNA. But after a while these telomeres are completely broken off, and then pieces of our actual DNA start to break off. This is one of the reasons why we age. But lobsters have something called telomerase, which actually builds back the telomeres so that their DNA never deteriorates. Therefore, they can continue to grow and don't really age. So lobsters could hold the key to living a longer and healthier life. lobsters are nocturnal, mostly being active at night. And they're also omnivores. They eat all sorts of things from fish to clams to seaweed, and in order to find their food. They use their antenna and their legs because they both have things called mechanical receptors and chemo receptors. Mechanical receptors help detect things through touch. While chemo receptors detect chemicals. lobsters also have some pretty cool eyes. They're made up of long cells that can detect light, giving the lobster a wide range of sight. And what's really cool is that NASA is using technology based on the eye of the lobster in one of their missions, which could possibly help them pick up on gravitational waves. When they find their prey, lobsters oftentimes have to use those huge front claws. But the two claws actually have two different purposes. One claw is called the crusher, and I'm sure you can guess what it does. When they eat clams and mussels. They use this claw to crush their shell. The other claw is called the Caesar, which is used for grabbing things and sometimes cutting. After using their claws. They'll pass the food down to their next set of legs so that they can taste the food with the chemo receptors and then eventually eat it. So basically they have built in eating utensils on their hands. And lobsters have three stomachs and they all do different things. The first stomach even helps with grinding up the food. Okay, we're gonna take our first break, but stay tuned because we have so much more to talk about. On today's A series of notable figures in science, I want to recognize dr. john Francis. After a huge oil spill happened in 1971, he decided not to use motorized vehicles for the next 22 years. This means no cars, buses, trains, etc, which is why his nickname is planet rocker. He also got his PhD in land management and helped the US government manage oil spills. He's still around today working to help the environment in different ways. He really showed us that anyone can take action to help make a difference in the world. If you want more information on Dr. Francis for this series, visit on wildlife.org.

Okay, we're back. lobsters need to live in a certain water temperature in order to survive, and different species of lobsters have different optimal temperatures. For example, the American lobster has been found to favor temperatures around 55 degrees Fahrenheit. But water temperatures in the ocean change depending on the season. And that's why some lobsters actually migrate. One species of lobster has been known to migrate around 200 miles, which is a huge journey for a small animal. lobsters aren't the fastest walkers, so this probably takes them a really long time. If a person wanted to walk 200 miles without stopping, it would take them three days. Still, much of what lobsters do under the ocean is not really known. Remember how I was talking about how lobsters never really stopped growing? Well, when they grow, they need to get rid of their shell and grow a new one. And this process is called molting. In young lobsters, it can happen about 25 times a year, which is a huge amount as molting can be dangerous and painful. During molting, their shells fall off, and they're left without protection from predators until a new one grows back. And lobsters are actually known to eat their shell after it falls off because it's a rich source of calcium, which will help them grow a new one faster. Speaking of growing, lobsters have multiple life stages, and in their early life stages, they swim instead of crawling on the ocean floor. And many people think that lobsters mate for life, but this isn't actually true. Instead, multiple females will usually mate with one male, but they're pretty weird when it comes to reproducing. In the animal kingdom, we're used to the male trying to impress the female. But with lobsters is the other way around. Female lobsters will send chemical signals called pheromones towards the male that she wants to mate with. And it's usually the dominant male. If he wants to meet with her, he'll bring her into his den. And meeting usually happens right after the female has multiple females can have 1000s of babies, it's been recorded that they could have up to 100,000 babies at a time. Instead of laying her eggs in a nest, the female carries the eggs around for months under her shell until they hatch. When they're ready to hatch, she releases the eggs and they float up to the surface. But sadly, only point 1% of these lobsters survive. There's also a lot of evidence to suggest that lobsters have a complex social hierarchy. males will actually fight in order to establish dominance over each other. And the dominant male as I talked about before, usually gets to meet with all the females. But how do they tell each other who's in charge? Well, lobsters pee in order to send signals to others in the area about who they are, how old they are, and what their mating status is. The lobsters pick up the chemical signals in their urine using their chemo receptors. And scientists have actually been able to measure their serotonin levels in different situations. serotonin is a hormone known as a mood stabilizer. Our bodies produce serotonin as well. It was found that when lobsters increase their status in the social hierarchy, their serotonin levels rise, whereas if they drop in the social hierarchy, serotonin levels fall, rises in serotonin can cause males to become more aggressive. Okay, we're gonna take our next break. And when we get back, I'm going to talk about why lobsters are so important to their ecosystem. Who's ready for a new trivia question? How much of the ocean have we not explored yet? A 15%, b 50%, c 75%, or d 95%? The answer is D. We've only explored 5% of our ocean. We've explored more of our solar system than our oceans.

Okay, we're back. So why should we care about lobsters? Well, lobsters are a key part of the food web in their habitat. They control population Tons of fish and other sea creatures by preying on them. For example, one of the animals that they eat are sea urchins. If sea urchin populations are not controlled, it could cause serious issues to ocean life. sea urchins eat every bit of kelp that's in their path, and they don't stop until it's all gone. This kelp is shelter for countless other animals, and without it, many species would die out. And lobsters are an important part of keeping those sea urchins from eating the kelp. There are also food sources to animals, especially in their juvenile state. lobsters are not only important to the ecosystem that they live in, but they're also important to us. Lobster is considered a delicacy around the world. Which is funny because in the 1600s in America, people used to be forced to eat lobster as punishment. But nowadays, it's a luxury food item, and lobster brings in billions of dollars of revenue every year. Unfortunately, lobster populations are declining, and a lot of it is due to climate change. As the earth continues to get warmer, our oceans get warmer as well. But as I talked about before, lobsters like to live in certain temperatures, too hot or too cold could force the lobsters to move. And warmer temperatures can also cause behavioral changes. And they need a specific temperature to reproduce and hatch their young. Not only that, but carbon dioxide is also being absorbed by the ocean, which is causing it to become more acidic. This can make it harder for the lobsters to form their shell. Lastly, overfishing is a serious problem. It's important to have fishing regulations so that populations of fish and other sea animals are able to recover. Here are some organizations that help lobsters and their habitats. There's the Maine lobster, men's community Alliance, blue frontier, and the deep sea conservation coalition. Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me as we explore the world of lobsters. You can find the sources that we use for this podcast and links to organizations that we reference at on wildlife.org. You can also email us at on wildlife dot podcast@gmail.com Don't forget to tune in next Wednesday for another awesome episode. And that's on wildlife.

Jess Avellino

You've been listening to on wildlife with Alex Re brought to you every Wednesday.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai