17 Jan 2007

How Do They Make Blue Lobsters?

Dear Blue Lobster:

How did they make the Lobster blue?


Dear Gentle Sir:

There are many species of lobsters, crayfish, crabs and other decapods in nature that occur blue naturally or can be made to turn blue with some effort. Indeed, the same holds true for any color morph. Among the methods for inducing color morphs, such as eugenics, lighting, dyes, psychotherapy, painting, and oxygen deprivation, simple selective breeding is the most widely-practiced.

In all crustaceans, different concentrations of pigments in their exoskeleton are responsible for their color. These varying color patterns are controlled by the animal's genes, which are the results of generations of adaptation and breeding. Selective breeding then, just as with dogs or cats, can be used to induce different color patterns.

By breeding two blue crayfish parents, for instance, more than half of the resulting brood will be blue. After several generations of blue-breeding, not only will entire broods be blue (expressing the dominance of the blue color), but different shades of blue will start to emerge.

Likewise, crossing two different color crays can result in a third color, though it is much more difficult. In breeding a pair of Lousiana Crayfish (Procambarus clarkii), one red and one blue, most of the brood will be red since it is the dominant color. Some, if any, of the offspring will be blue. Once in every few hundred generations, however, the two color expressions will merge and create a purple crayfish. Due to the fleeting nature of that morph, creating a breeding population of purple clarkiis is impossible.

It's also possible to change a crustacean's color patterns. The Rusty Crayfish (Orconectes rusticus) is usually a flat green-grey color with red spots on its sides and the tips of its claws, but thanks to selective breeding by hobbyists a speckled red-and-green line has been established and is now known as the Christmas Cray. Conversely, the Peacock Shrimp (Lysmata cyanea) is a bright blue with pink pleopods and yellow mottling on its claws but has been bred into a simple neon-blue morph.

Selective breeding for color morphs is something you can try at home. Have two different colors of the same species? Force them to breed and see if you can spot a new color in the hatchlings. Want to promote a certain pattern of stripes? Pick the two specimens and mate away! Who knows? Perhaps you could be the first person to unlock some unseen morph, like a red-and-yellow checkerboard crab or a purple-and-pink polka-dotted crayfish. Good luck!

1 Jan 2007

Khasilon, Blind Israeli Cave Shrimp

Dear Blue Lobster:

i heard that there's a new species of shrimp discovered in israel do you know anything about this as the jewish people are forbidden to eat seafood


Dear Gentle Sir:

Back in June of 2006, scientists announced the discovery of a new subterranean cave system found near the city of Ramle in Israel complete with several new unique species. Among these new species were a decopod crustacean the scientists have dubbed khasilon, which is Hebrew for shrimp or crab.

Five million years ago, the Mediterranean Sea formed when the tectonic plates of Africa and Eurasia broke down upon collision. Since then, the sea has shrunk slightly and one underwater cave system was left with a sampling of lake species. In the millions of years since they were cut off from the rest of the sea, they evolved to match their changing environ and eventually became what scientists discovered last year.

One species is a completely translucent scorpion that has evolved the stinger on its tail into a claw like those on its forelimbs.

A species of spider has apparently grown so large that it can catch fish, and does so by trapping an insect in its web, then lowering the creature down to the water on a single thread. When fish come to investigate the bait, the spider reaches down, entraps the fish, and takes it back up to its web for later dining.

There are also species of fish with no eyes but large gill plates that serve as echolocation receptors, species of lichen that glow in the dark, and a centipede that grows up to a meter long and can the eat its own posterior segments when food is scarce. The most interesting new species found in these caves, however, is the khasilon.

A blind, white decapod pleocymate crustacean, the khasilon has not yet been classified. It most resembles a shrimp, but has features of known crayfish and lobster species and scientists are currently awaiting molecular data before they assign it a scientific name. Its behavior and physiology are well-documented, however, and are one-of-a-kind in the animal kingdom.

Though most specimens were found in brackish water, others were found in fresh and salt water, meaning the species has a high tolerance for different water chemistries. It also has a unique way of catching food: the khasilon remains completely still in a shallow pool of water and waits for an animal to fall into the water, rarely moving otherwise. And its sedentary nature also matches its metabolism.

As a means of adaption to a habitat without light, the khasilon ages incredibly slowly. Most specimens found were five to eight centimeters long and took up to thirty years to reach that size. One moulted exoskeleton exceeded 60 centimeters in length and was thought to belong to a khasilon that was over 1,000 years old, a record-holding age among animals.

Labs are currently processing DNA tests of the khasilon and other species, hoping not only to place them in current taxonomy, but also to find clues to how life exists in extreme environments. Stay tuned as more information becomes available on this mysterious ecosystem!