In Reply to: Re: Lobster Season, Wanted Alive and free baby abalone ear rings posted by A real bug diver on September 24, 2012 at 18:50:48:

Sperm: where did you see sperm?

Sperm? I don’t’ ever recall mentioning sperm. Read the text with the Poster –it has been the same for many years. You will note that it says nothing about sperm, breeding or anything about reproduction. Frankly, most males, from the point of view of population dynamics, are extraneous although, as opposed to mammals, arthropods males do not become less fertile as they get old and females remain fertile for their entire life.

And what Sheller says about females is quite accurate; the large females produce an inordinate amount of eggs/offspring. Thus the idea of releasing large females is far more important from a conservation stand point than worrying about the males. When we started this years ago, we just thought it was nice to let the really big ones go (or leave them) since we were about the only predator they had left. That too was before the wonderful resurgence of the black sea bass which would be happy to make a meal of most any lobster.

And yes, most everyone knows that lobsters are cannibalistic, no only when food is low but they will eat anything they can catch including smaller lobsters. This has been a major problem in the mariculture of both the genus Homarus and Panulirus lobster species in terms of the cost of “housing”.

But of course, you being a “real bug diver” knew this and much more. Have a good lobster season and if you see us out on the ocean, stop by and show us how it is done by a “real bug diver”. By the way, which is the correct spelling, dufus or doofus? I figure you’d know that for sure.