Lobsters – Courtship
Music; Ambience: Ocean sounds
Humans aren’t the only creatures that play the dating game. Lobsters have quite the courtship ritual too. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. Boston University marine biologist Jelle Atema says that when it comes to mating, lobsters have no shortage of drama.
“So, first of all, the males fight for dominance, to get the nicest piece of real estate. The females are very attracted to this and they themselves then try to get access to this male. So the females are blowing their odor into the shelter of the male. He sits there and receives the information, and he can say “yes, you can come in.” Or, “no, sorry, I’m busy.” And then, if she is allowed in, then they start a one week cohabitation period, in which other females are not allowed in. After a few days, she is ready to actually molt. So, in this process, she becomes very vulnerable because she climbs out of her hard shell and is very soft-shelled after that; she is really like a piece of rubber. Cannot even stand on her legs because the external skeleton of a lobster serves literally as our internal skeleton. So she lies there, right after the molt. And then half an hour later, the actual fertilization starts. But before the molting, just before, she does something very curious. She walks up to the male, puts her claws on his shoulders and for a few seconds stands there and then walks away again.”
“What we think is happening is that, at that moment, the female is blasting the male with chemical information. Because where the chemical information is produced is right under her head, so by putting her claws on his shoulders, she is literally blowing this odor straight into his nose.”
Jelle Atema is studying how lobsters use this chemical information to learn
about each other. We’ll hear more in future programs. Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation.