matt_unique
Guest
Check this out: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...u=/ap/20050217/ap_on_sc/lobster_shell_disease
--Matt
--Matt
Unfortunate lobster news story
- Thread starter matt_unique
- Start date
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MSilvia
Contributor
Not good.
decapoddiver
Contributor
It's been seen from P'town South for a few years. Every year I hope it doesn't make it's way up to my bug spots. So far, so good.
Soggy
Contributor
It's really too bad for the species, but does it affect their edibility? I thought, from a food perspective it was just cosmetic.
gfisher4792
Guest
As far as the meat is concerned, the lobster's fine. However, the affect of the disease ranges from mearly cosmetic (black spots, deformed shell) up to complete shell rot and brittleness. Having a brittle shell probably isn't a good thing if the lobster's looking for a long life.
LobstaMan
Guest
I noticed only a few lobsters w/ the 'Ugly Lobster Disease'(ULD) last year and they were all on the SS. Also spoke with a friendly neighborhood lobsterman in Hull who said he saw a few in '03 and an increasing number of them in '04, but nothing too serious. He did say that they can't sell those marked lobsters. However, I ate a diseased one last year(minor shell rot) and noticed no taste difference. Hopefully, the UDL will stay where it is and then go away.
LobstaMan
LobstaMan
MSilvia
Contributor
If it doesn't kill them outright or get much worse, might it have a beneficial effect on the population? The more get thrown back, the more there are to breed, right?
anth
Contributor
MSilvia,
Interestingly enough, it has been suggested that the limiting factor for lobster populations in New England is not the reproduction capacity of the adults, but rather the survival rate of the larval lobsters. Either way, there's been some sort of downfall.
I recently read that today's lobster populations are larger than they were centuries ago, before cod fisheries (lobster predators) were decimated. Interesting fellows, those lobsters...
DSAO,
Anthony
Interestingly enough, it has been suggested that the limiting factor for lobster populations in New England is not the reproduction capacity of the adults, but rather the survival rate of the larval lobsters. Either way, there's been some sort of downfall.
I recently read that today's lobster populations are larger than they were centuries ago, before cod fisheries (lobster predators) were decimated. Interesting fellows, those lobsters...
DSAO,
Anthony
MASS-Diver
Contributor
From what I'v heard, being infected with this disease does lower survial rates - I don't see an upside 
decapoddiver
Contributor
are too weak to move, forage, mate etc.
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