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ambience: spiny lobster sounds
Spiny lobsters are clawless relatives of the Maine lobsters, and although they
can’t snap and pinch, they do make some pretty startling sounds. I’m Jim Metzner and this is Pulse of the Planet.
“Spiny lobsters makes sound when they’re attacked by predators or, held by humans.”
Biologist Sheila Patek is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California in Berkeley.
“A lot of different animals make sounds when they’re interacting with predators. For example, if you tried to pick up a normally quiet rabbit, it often makes a terrible racket. And the function of that sound is to cause the predator to pause for a second and potentially let go of that rabbit or give it enough time to escape.”
Instead of claws, spiny lobsters have spiky antennae to defend themselves against potential predators. A soft nub on the antenna makes a surprisingly loud sound when rubbed over the lobster’s smooth head plate. The sound comes from the sticking and slipping of soft tissues sort of like rubbing a wet finger on a balloon. Besides the sound, lobsters also use the element of surprise, and a quick getaway when threatened.
“When I first started working on lobsters, it was really hard to hold onto them because when they made this really awful noise they would often do a tail flip, which is when they pull their tails underneath them to try to propel themselves away. So the combination of this rapid body movement and the sound, I almost always dropped them, and it took a long time working with them to train myself to hold onto the animal even when it’s making a really startling noise.”
Lobsters use the same tactic with the sharks and other predators that pursue them in their native habitats.
Pulse of the Planet is presented with support provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.
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