Anti-predator behaviors of the slipper lobster, Scyllarides latus

• Published in: American zoologist 1991-01, Vol.31 (5), p.104A-104A
• Main Authors: Barshaw, DE, Spanier, E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Marine; Scyllarides latus
• ISSN: 0003-1569

In previous experiments we have shown that slipper lobsters (Scyllarides latus ) are shelter bound during the day and that these shelters are effective protection against predation. However, the lobsters must leave their shelters to forage. To test the hypothesis that slipper lobsters come out to forage only at night because their predators are diurnal, we tethered lobsters with and without shelters and proceeded to check for predation separately during the night and day. During the four nights that we tested: 0/39 of the lobsters with shelter and 0/40 of the lobster without shelters were eaten. During the four days: 1/38 of the lobsters with shelter were eaten while more than half - 21/40 of the lobsters without shelter were eaten. These data suggest that the primary predators of these lobsters are diurnal and that the lobsters are able to avoid them by sheltering during the day and foraging only at night. Presently we are examining the role of maximum fleeing distance and the ability of these lobsters to tenaciously cling to the substrate as anti-predator behaviors.