{"id":4569,"date":"2017-02-21T06:45:29","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T11:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/marine\/?p=4569"},"modified":"2017-06-16T16:01:20","modified_gmt":"2017-06-16T20:01:20","slug":"dmc-researchers-test-technique-determine-lobsters-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/marine\/2017\/02\/21\/dmc-researchers-test-technique-determine-lobsters-age\/","title":{"rendered":"DMC researchers test technique to determine lobster\u2019s age"},"content":{"rendered":"

UMaine News, February 17, 2017<\/span><\/h1>\n

Research professor Rick Wahle and graduate student Carl Huntsberger are testing a technique at the University of Maine Darling Marine Center to determine the age of lobsters.<\/p>\n

Unlike fish, mollusks and trees, Wahle says lobsters and other crustaceans molt — or cast off their skeletons thereby discarding external signs of growth.<\/p>\n

That means a lobster’s age is estimated on size, but it’s a rough determination because ocean conditions affect the crustacean’s growth rate.<\/p>\n

Not knowing a lobster’s age is problematic for scientists and fishery managers seeking to measure the health of the fishery and the sustainability of the stock.<\/p>\n

Recent research by Raouf Kilada of the University of New Brunswick revealed that lobsters and other crustaceans have internal structures that exhibit growth patterns similar to tree rings.<\/p>\n

Kilada found tree-ring-like microscopic bands, less than 1 millimeter thick, within a lobster or crab’s gastric mill— which is a part of the stomach that grinds food.<\/p>\n

Kilada recently visited the DMC to share his technique with Wahle and Huntsberger. Kilada provided hands-on instruction that he’s perfected during many hours of trial and error.<\/p>\n

“At this point, we are able to dissect lobsters that have been held in captivity for three years after staining the gastric mill with a fluorescent dye, which marks when we began our observations,” says Huntsberger, who is processing samples in the Wahle Lab.<\/p>\n

The growth bands are located in the ossicles, which are tiny plate-like structures in the stomach that facilitate grinding of food.<\/p>\n

To process a sample, ossicles are embedded in epoxy and cut into 150-micron sections. The number of bands can be counted with the use of a microscope. For reference, the thickness of a human hair is about 75 microns.<\/p>\n

Huntsberger says preliminary data indicate the bands do show annual growth patterns.<\/p>\n

The Maine Department of Marine Resources and Maine Sea Grant are funding the project.<\/p>\n

Contact: Melissa Wood, 207.479.0660<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UMaine News, February 17, 2017 Research professor Rick Wahle and graduate student Carl Huntsberger are testing a technique at the University of Maine Darling Marine Center to determine the age of lobsters. Unlike fish, mollusks and trees, Wahle says lobsters and other crustaceans molt — or cast off their skeletons thereby discarding external signs of growth. 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