Basic Information on The American Lobster- Homarus americanus
The American Lobster is found long along the Atlantic coast of North America from Labrador, Canada to North Carolina, United States. They can be found in shallow waters but are found in abundance in deeper waters and as far deep as 365 meters. They live on the bottom of the ocean in sandy and muddy areas but mainly in rocky bottoms to hide. It spends most of its day inside its burrow and only comes out if there is food nearby, this statement sums up some of my Saturday nights. At night it wanders the ocean floor but if a predator approaches it retreats back to its burrow. It is the largest species of lobster and can reach a length of up to 1.1 meters and a weight of 20 kg. Its body is divided into 21 segments: six segments from the head region, eight segments compose the thorax (mid-section), and seven segments make up the abdomen (often called the tail). Commonly thought of as being red, the body is really blackish-green or brownish-green. The red color results when a lobster is boiled and is a result of pigments in the shell breaking down. segments from the head region, eight segments compose the thorax (mid-section), and seven segments make up the abdomen (often called the tail). Commonly thought of as being red, the body is really blackish-green or brownish-green. The red color results when a lobster is boiled and is a result of pigments in the shell breaking down.
The Nervous System Of the American Lobster- Homarus americanus
The American lobster or the Homarus americanus has a very primitive nervous system. Lobsters do not have brains and have approximately only 100,000 neurons while humans have over 100 billion. The body plan of an Atlantic Lobster is essentially comprised of two parts termed the cephalathorax and the abdomen. The cephalathorax, a shield like covering, is comprised of the cephalon (head) and the thorax (midsection), which are fused together. Instead of lobsters having brains, they have a bilaterally symmetrical nervous system. The bilaterally symmetrical nervous system consists of a group of nerves, ganglia, per body segment. They are joined together by a ventral nerve cord and performs different body functions. However, if the connections of the ganglia are cut, the lobster can carry on normal behavior. On their head they have antennae that measure about two inches are Y-shaped structures. Both tips exhibits a dense zone of hair tufts that are in a zig-zag arrangement. These hairs are covered with nerve cells that detect odors, thicker hairs that are found along the edges control the flow of water containing odor molecules, to the inner sensory hairs. They have shorter antennules that provide a further sense of smell. They also have a pair of oflactory organs so they can locate the direction a certain smell comes from. In addition to sensing smells, the antennules can judge water speed to improve direction finding. The Stomatogastric Nervous System of the lobster is what most scientists study and are many experiments on it. Lobsters have a small isolates stomatogastric ganglion contain 25-30 motor neurons that control the muscles of the stomach.