—Three species of nephropid lobsters have been recognized in the genus Homarus: the American and European lobsters, H. americanus and H. gammarus of the northwestern and northeastern Atlantic, respectively, and the Cape lobster of South Africa, H. capensis, few specimens of which have been studied until recently. Analysis of new specimens allows reconsideration of the systematic status of this ...

Shell disease (SD) has been observed in lobster populations for almost a hundred years, but recently, rates of an epizootic form of shell disease (ESD) have increased in the southern New England (USA) area. A large proportion of fish in the diet of American lobsters Homarus americanus has been linked to increased rates of SD. Therefore, the use of fish as lobster bait may be linked to increased...

The physiological actions of lobster peptide F1 (TNRNFLRFamide) have been examined on three different lobster nerve-muscle preparations (exoskeletal, cardiac and visceral). The peptide, which is found at high concentrations in a lobster neurosecretory gland, causes a long-lasting enhancement of contractility in each target tissue. On exoskeletal nerve-muscle preparations, peptide F1 has the fol...

Pezier A, Bobkov YV, Ache BW. The Na /Ca exchanger inhibitor, KB-R7943, blocks a nonselective cation channel implicated in chemosensory transduction. J Neurophysiol 101: 1151–1159, 2009. First published December 31, 2008; doi:10.1152/jn.90903.2008. The mechanism(s) of olfactory transduction in invertebrates remains to be fully understood. In lobster olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs), a nonselec...

American lobsters (Homarus americanus) will on rare occasions produce sounds by vibrating their dorsal carapace. Although this behavior can be elicited in the laboratory by handling lobsters, the stimulus that triggers the production of sounds in the lobster's natural habitat is not known. We investigated the influence of two fish that are known to prey on lobsters, cod (Gadus morhua) and strip...

[(3)H]Fructose and [(3)H]glucose transport were determined in brush-border membrane vesicles (BBMV), basolateral membrane vesicles (BLMV) and isolated cells (E, R, F, B) of H. americanus (Atlantic lobster) hepatopancreas. Glucose transport in BBMV was equilibrative in the absence of sodium and concentrative in the presence of sodium. Sodium-dependent glucose transport by BBMV was not inhibited ...

A new species of nemertean worm belonging to the genus Carcinonemertes is described from egg masses of the Caribbean spiny lobster Panulirus argus from the Florida Keys, Florida, USA. This is the first species of Carcinonemertes reported to infect P. argus or any other lobster species in the greater Caribbean and western Atlantic Ocean. Carcinonemertes conanobrieni sp. nov. varies in body color...

Severe discharge of sewage and industrial effluents into the Persian Gulf causes the deposition of various types of heavy metals and especially lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury in the muscles of marine animals. The present study was carried out to evaluate the concentration of lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury in the fish (Scomberomorus commerson), shrimp (Fenneropenaeus indicus) and lobster...

Causal factors leading to Epizootic Shell Disease (ESD) lesions in American Lobster, H. 20 americanus, are not well understood. We explore the structural and physiological bases for 21 development of ESD from preclinical stages invisible to unaided eye to early visible stages. We present 22 a lobster shell model which develops structural functional vulnerability and suggests plausible routes to...

Puerulus settlement of the western Atlantic spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, was monitored using modified Witham collectors from December 1996 to March 1998 at seven sites around St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. A total of 605 pueruli were collected from 553 samples for a catch per unit effort (CPUE) for all sites of 1.09 pueruli. The greatest settlement occurred on sites within a recently decla...