Strange Things I’ve Read About

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 194, 15 August 1936, Page 12

Strange Things I’ve Read About

Dear Hut Folk—As a result of much burning of the mid-night oil I’ve found something more than a little interesting. Do you know this, that if we only possessed some of the lobster's attributes we would have no need whatever for doctors, for the lobster is its own surgeon. If our friends the lobsters meets with an accident and the amputation of a limb is deemed necessary he just snaps off the damaged part and grows another to replace it! Male and junior lobsters discard their carapaces twice a year, but the female only once. With the growth of each new shell, the lobster’s bodily bulk increases by an eighth, and once the shell is completed, growth ceases. His shedding and growing of a new shell is, if possible, an even greater feat of Mother Nature than the replacement of limbs and eyes. The shell is attached to the body by strong muscles and nerves and gathers its toughness from lime extracted from the sea water. Before

lhe shell will split down the back to enable its wearer to get out, the lime is withdrawn from the back and distributed along the sides in knobby projections. The tough skin enveloping the body fills with fluid and the flesh apparently turn to water. To allow the withdrawal of the claws, which are larger than the joints they must through, the fluid from the upper claw runs into the lower, giving freedom of movement to the upper. The position is reversed to allow the lower to be extracted. The flesh forming the great pincers seems to flow up and down as occasion demands. Eyes, legs, claws and body come out of their armour, even the lining of the internal organs being shed in this great moult. Free of the shell the lobster takes refuge in a rocky crevice for six weeks until the new carapace grows. If the body possesses insufficient lime, the old shell will be consumed to make up the deficiency. When the lobster has reached a length of ten inches, twenty-five moults have taken placee*. After the fourth moult, the breaking joints develops in each limbs between the second and third segments, where a tendon tightens over the flesh and prevents bleeding when a joint is snapped off. Experiments have proved that when under an anaesthetic the lobster will sustain an injury to a claw or leg and will not discard the injured member, but will set about repairing the damage.—“GRANDADDY.”