Posted by Melvin on September 03, 2002 at 14:19:22:
In Reply to: Interesting you should mention this ... posted by Frank O on September 03, 2002 at 13:56:00:
Yep, that would be all that was left. I briefly considered natural predation, but I just somehow doubt it. This bug was huge, about like the photograph you took. It is stuck under some seaweed aoubt 10 feet from the end of the reef at divers cove, where it turns back over toward Fishermans, on the east side (divers cove side) of the reef.
The lobster meat was fairly cleanly gone, with just a small amount floating in the water as you would expect from tailing a lobster. The insides were also mostly gone, except for the non-meat organs, leaving a fist sized cavity. From how cleanly it was done, with no other damage to the lobster, I just doubt it was natural predation. Finding absolutly no sign of the tail also causes me to have doubts. Now, the lobster may use a twisting motion to "tail" its lobster, but then near buy I would find broken up bits and pices of the shell where it ate the tail, I would think. But yes, I will conceed it could be a natrual preditor other than man, but I just doubt it. Funny that it was the only one we found too, living or dead.