Well-wrapped feces allow lobsters to eat jellyfish stingers without injury

Results advance efforts for sustainable lobster aquaculture

Date: August 25, 2016

Source: Hiroshima University

Lobsters eat jellyfish without harm from the venomous stingers due to a series of physical adaptations. Researchers from Hiroshima University examined lobster feces to discover that lobsters surround their servings of jellyfish in protective membranes that prevent the stingers from injecting their venom. The results are vial for aquaculture efforts to sustainably farm lobsters for diners around the world.

Lobsters grow for years before becoming a red-shelled main meal. In their early life stages, the larvae of slipper and spiny lobsters are nearly transparent and about the size of an adult's thumb nail. Lobster larvae ride around the ocean on the bodies of jellyfish while eating them alive, including the venomous portions of the tentacles.

Kaori Wakabayashi, Ph.D., is the leader of a research group at Hiroshima University and has studied lobster development with the goal of creating a food for farmed lobsters. Lobsters are not farmed on the scale of shrimp (prawns), crab, or fish because their development and nutritional needs remain poorly understood.

"Farmed marine species are often fed sardines, which has contributed to a dramatic decrease in global sardine populations. In the future, artificial food will empower farmers to provide their lobsters with convenient, sustainable, and safe nutrition regardless of weather, locality, or the availability of other marine resources. Knowing what the lobsters ate also ensures greater food safety for people," said Wakabayashi.

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