Marine Mammal Trainers

Showing posts with label lobsters. Show all posts

5/29/09

#117: Video of a White Lobster Molting

As you know, we have been doing a lot of work with lobsters the last few months. Justin even posted a video of one of his lobsters molting. Just this week, Anita taped another lobster molting, but you'll notice this lobster is a surprising color.

The lobster in this video is one of hundreds being raised at the Aquarium's Lobster Research and Rearing Facility. Anita, manager of the lab, happened to stumble upon this lobster halfway through molting. The first thing you might notice is that the lobster is white. This lobster was not born this way, but rather it has been eating a diet that lacks the pigment astaxanthin. Astaxanthin provides a lobster with its shell color, so if a lobster doesn't eat astaxanthin, they will turn white! For more information on lobster shell color and research, visit the Lobster Lab's web page.

The old shell is a light blue color, and the lobster itself is white. At the start of the video, the lobster is trying to get its claws, abdomen and tail out of the old shell. The lobster definitely looks like it is having a difficult time. Although the molting process only takes a few minutes, a lobster spends much of its life preparing to molt or recovering from molting. After molting, the lobster will bring water into its tissues and increase in size – sometimes it will gain up to 50% of its previous weight. The new shell hardens over the next couple days and the lobster will eat its old shell for nutrition.

Thanks Anita for the great video!

-Erin

4/21/09

#106: Biggest Lobster Training at NEAQ

The biggest lobster at the Aquarium.
Note: He is not on exhibit at this time. This blog is the best place to see him.

You've seen a few posts on training we have done with some smaller lobsters (here and here), but did you also know we are training a 24 pound lobster? That's right - this lobster is the size of 3 newborn babies! I initially started off just learning how to feed him, but have since introduced a target and he is doing great.

Lobsters are really cool animals. Did you know that like people, they can develop handedness? All lobsters start out with their two claws the same size, but as they get older, they will start to use one claw more than the other. This claw will develop a lot of muscle, get really big, and become what we know as the "crusher" claw. The muscle of the crusher claw doesn't tire easily, so when the lobster needs to break open a shell (to get the food inside), the lobster can apply a lot of pressure over a long period of time. The other, smaller claw becomes the "pincher" claw. This claw can be moved quickly and is designed to cut through softer things, like fish.

Crusher claw (left) Pincher claw (right)

In the case of our big lobster here, his crusher claw is on his left and the pincher claw is on his right. I found that the best way to feed him was to lightly hold his pincher claw so I can get the food directly to his mouth. I don't have to apply a lot of pressure, but this way he knows where to focus and doesn't accidentally mistake my arm for food.

This video shows some of the training sessions with this big boy. You can see exactly how I feed him, how fast he can move his claw if I don't hold it, and his really great reactions to the target.

-Erin

4/7/09

#103: Lobster Flipping and Targeting

If you have been following our blog, you should be familiar with the training term "target" (if you need a refresher, check out the definition) and how we use it to train the marine mammals here at the Aquarium. Some of you may also remember that we are using a target to train some of the other animals at the Aquarium, including lungfish, lumpfish, frogs, and Myrtle the green sea turtle. Well now there's another animal we can add to the list ... lobsters!

Now I understand if you are wondering why we would want to train a lobster to target; we get that question a lot. As Justin previously explained, we were tasked to see if we could train the lobsters a behavior, then test how well they remember it over time. The results may be able to give us more information on a lobster's brain power.

Over the past few months, I have tried a number of approaches with this lobster, most of which involved trying to capture a behavior he was already doing. Here I am waiting for him to flip over on his back, which several of the lobsters did on their own before we started working with them. At first I wasn't having much success getting a particular behavior to happen with any regularity. However, I was learning a lot about this individual lobster: the best way to approach him, how to feed him, how he seemed to experience things. While I am certainly not a lobster expert by any means, learning all of these different things gave me a better appreciation for what might work best for us. Once I started training a "target" station with him, things moved more smoothly.

You can partially see him flipping over in this video:

One challenge was figuring out the best sized object to use as a target--what may seem small enough to me could be very large to my lobster (he is, after all, only a few inches long). I tried a few objects and had the best success with a small shell glued to a stick (below).

Now check out this video of him targeting the shell:

The first time I put the shell in the water, the lobster's inquisitive nature brought him over to investigate, but he stopped a bit short, a bit unsure of the situation. You'll notice though, as I introduce some food just beside the shell, the lobster comes all the way over and, while he is eating, checks out the shell a bit. His concerns must have been alleviated, because a few minutes later, I put the shell in again and this time he didn't hesitate at all. He came right over and I was able to feed him after he touched it.

Since we started this last week, he has come right over to the shell every time it was placed in the water! We have our first "test" ahead of us ... my lobster recently molted and for a few days after they are more concerned with staying safe and expanding their new soft shell than anything else. This time off will give us an opportunity to see just how much he remembers. Will he still associate the shell target on a stick with food?

-Erin

3/2/09

#98: Lobster Growth Spurt- Night Vision Video!

This is cartoon from the "Maine Dictionary."
A sheddah is a lobster that recently molted.

A few weeks ago I told you that we were starting to train some juvenile lobsters in the Aquarium's lobster research lab. These lobsters were hatched at the Aquarium and it's been really interesting watching them grow. Lobsters don't grow gradually like we do, they only grow when they molt their shells. Their shells don't grow with their body, so in order to get larger they have to pull their bodies out of the old shell. They have a new shell underneath but it is very soft.

While they are soft they take water into their bodies to expand, and then harden up after that. All crustaceans molt. Have you ever eaten a soft-shelled crab? You're eating a crab that has recently gone through this molting process. Younger lobsters tend to molt more frequently than older ones. I think the coolest things about lobster molting is that they usually eat their old shell after they've shed it. Yum!

The other day Erin and I went up to do a training session with the lobsters and we caught one of my lobsters in the middle of molting. This video shows you the end of the molting process. We took it with "night vision" which is why the lobster is green with creepy glowing eyes. He is just about all the way out of his old shell.

With some encouragement and lamaze breathing techniques from Erin and me, it was quickly all the way out and well on its way to getting bigger. You can see its old shell in the lower right side of the screen. My little crustacean's growing up so fast.

-Justin

12/8/08

#72: People Think We're Crazy

Recently we've taken on the challenge of trying to train many other animals at the Aquarium other than the seals. Many people believe you can train any animal to do anything that they are physically capable of doing. So we've been challenged to train lobsters, fish, frogs, turtles and even anacondas. I'm pretty sure co-workers from other departments think we're nuts. A bunch of us have been working with juvenile lobsters that were raised in the Aquarium's Lobster Lab.

If we are capable of training the lobsters to do certain behaviors and they are able to remember them, it may shed more light on crustacean brain power. One behavior some of us are attempting to train is to turn over on their back on a signal. These small lobsters sometimes do this on their own when being fed so our challenge is to get them to do it on cue. Watch this video to see what it looks like. Once the lobster flips I am reinforcing it with some brine shrimp from a dropper.

-Justin

10/22/08

#61: Lobster Spa Treatment

Chewie, the 17-pound lobster living in the harbor seal exhibit, needs regular check-ups just like everyone else. You might find that his check ups seem more like a day at the spa than a doctor's visit.

Full Body Scrub: People pay big dollars for an algae wrap at a spa. Chewie's treatment is just the opposite. I gently remove any algae with a soft sponge. We use his shell appearance to help determine his overall health.

Manicure/Pedicure: With the help of our head veterinarian, Dr. Smolowitz, we are taking a closer look at the condition of Chewie's shell, especially on his claws. Having a strong, healthy shell will ensure that Chewie stays strong and healthy himself.

If you're thinking that Chewie's next stop is the "steam room," get that idea out of your head right now!

All that's left to do is book a follow-up appointment!

-Erin

5/20/08

#7: Chewie

Seals aren't the only animals found in our Harbor Seal Exhibit. My name is Erin, a marine mammal trainer here at the NEAq. Last December, after doing a routine cleaning dive in the front exhibit, I helped introduce "Chewie" (short for Chewbacca), a 17-pound American lobster into his new home. Harbor seals and lobsters are naturally found in the same waters, so it was no stretch to believe that they would be able to live together here at the NEAq. The 7 Harbor seals at the NEAq have shared space with a number of lobsters over the years (including Luke and Leia), but none as big as Chewie, and while his size may be intimidating to us, everyone is getting along great in the exhibit. You will likely find him on the left side of the exhibit, so be sure to stop and take a look the next time you come by.

Jenny	Kathy
Belinda	Kim
Patty	Paul
Vanessa	Lindsay
Erin W.	Meg

New England Aquarium