DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #792: WHERE DID I PUT MY SLIPPERS?
I only completed seven dives in 2018 due to my cancer. Lowest dive total in decades. Until I can return to Mother Ocean, I've got to be content writing about memories. At my age, those aren't easy to retrieve so I decided to scan the billions and billions of underwater images I have from my many trips overseas to find something new to write about.
While perusing the crustaceans from my trip to the Philippines back in 2013, I found just what I needed. There in my well-organized folder were images of a critter most of you have probably never seen... and I've never written about in my nearly 800 newspaper columns. So sit back and "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill," and learn about the slipper lobster.
Now there are several species of these crustaceans in the tropical Pacific, but I'm guessing the one I saw at the Cathedral dive site near Anilao was the sculpted slipper lobster (Parribacus antarcticus). Any of you slipper lobster experts out there, please feel free to correct me. Slipper lobsters are also called a wide variety of "common" names including shovel-nosed, locust, mitten, bay, blind, flat, flathead, bulldozer and fan lobster as well as bugs, flapjack, flying saucer, mudbug, sandbug and slipper bug.They may need a psychiatrist to help them through all these different "identities!"
If I am correct in the identification, this slipper lobster has a wide geographic range. It can be seen in the western Atlantic from Florida to Brazil, south Africa, the Indian Ocean, Hawaii and the South Pacific. They frequent shallow water habitats around stone or coral reefs with sandy bottoms. The one I filmed was hiding in coral. During the day they generally remain hidden and come out at night. We were fortunate as this was a night dive.
This species is generally yellowish to cream in color with darker patches but the coloration can be somewhat variable. Their first antennae, or antennules, are long and flexible and used to sense the environment.The secondary antenna are unusual in that they are broad and plate-like, extending from the front of the body. The head region consists of six segments followed by eight in the thorax where the walking legs are attached.
I haven't a clue about their sex life since I wasn't able to observe them "in the act." They must be a bit shy. However, the Waikiki Aquarium described it on their web page. Males seek out the ladies, probably following the scent of chemical pheromones. He then places a sticky packet of sperm near her reproductive opening. The eggs are fertilized as they are extruded from the female. The fertile reddish or blackish eggs are then attached by the female to her legs and fanned to provide oxygen. This is similar to our spiny lobsters when they are "berried." The eggs hatch after several months and drift as larvae in the plankton.
The phyllosome larvae are similar to those of our own spiny lobster. The go through about 10 instars (stages) in this larval period which may last 9 months to a year. Then they transform into a "nisto" stage that lasts a few weeks. It is this stage that settles out onto its selected habitat, although little is known about this translation. Like crustaceans everywhere, their hard shells require them to molt or shed them as they grow too big for their bitches.
It eats molluscs, polychaete worms, shrimp, crabs and even sea urchins. Of course since they are all consumed raw, it is a sushi afficianado. In turn bony fish such as triggerfish chow down on them. During molting, before the new exoskeleton hardens for protection, they may even be munched on by other slipper lobsters! All species are edible for humans and some are exploited commercially.
Slipper lobsters have been on the Ocean Planet for 100-120 million years. My Dad traced the Bushing side of our family tree but it didn't go anywhere near as far back as that! Their closest relatives are the spiny lobster like our own Panulirus interruptus, although I fail to see much of a family resemblance. Come to think of it, I didn't see much similarity between me and many of my ancestors!
© 2018 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of nearly 800 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Slipper lobster emerging from coral head in Anilao, Philippines, and close-up showing legs (oo la la).
I only completed seven dives in 2018 due to my cancer. Lowest dive total in decades. Until I can return to Mother Ocean, I've got to be content writing about memories. At my age, those aren't easy to retrieve so I decided to scan the billions and billions of underwater images I have from my many trips overseas to find something new to write about.
While perusing the crustaceans from my trip to the Philippines back in 2013, I found just what I needed. There in my well-organized folder were images of a critter most of you have probably never seen... and I've never written about in my nearly 800 newspaper columns. So sit back and "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill," and learn about the slipper lobster.
Now there are several species of these crustaceans in the tropical Pacific, but I'm guessing the one I saw at the Cathedral dive site near Anilao was the sculpted slipper lobster (Parribacus antarcticus). Any of you slipper lobster experts out there, please feel free to correct me. Slipper lobsters are also called a wide variety of "common" names including shovel-nosed, locust, mitten, bay, blind, flat, flathead, bulldozer and fan lobster as well as bugs, flapjack, flying saucer, mudbug, sandbug and slipper bug.They may need a psychiatrist to help them through all these different "identities!"
If I am correct in the identification, this slipper lobster has a wide geographic range. It can be seen in the western Atlantic from Florida to Brazil, south Africa, the Indian Ocean, Hawaii and the South Pacific. They frequent shallow water habitats around stone or coral reefs with sandy bottoms. The one I filmed was hiding in coral. During the day they generally remain hidden and come out at night. We were fortunate as this was a night dive.
This species is generally yellowish to cream in color with darker patches but the coloration can be somewhat variable. Their first antennae, or antennules, are long and flexible and used to sense the environment.The secondary antenna are unusual in that they are broad and plate-like, extending from the front of the body. The head region consists of six segments followed by eight in the thorax where the walking legs are attached.
I haven't a clue about their sex life since I wasn't able to observe them "in the act." They must be a bit shy. However, the Waikiki Aquarium described it on their web page. Males seek out the ladies, probably following the scent of chemical pheromones. He then places a sticky packet of sperm near her reproductive opening. The eggs are fertilized as they are extruded from the female. The fertile reddish or blackish eggs are then attached by the female to her legs and fanned to provide oxygen. This is similar to our spiny lobsters when they are "berried." The eggs hatch after several months and drift as larvae in the plankton.
The phyllosome larvae are similar to those of our own spiny lobster. The go through about 10 instars (stages) in this larval period which may last 9 months to a year. Then they transform into a "nisto" stage that lasts a few weeks. It is this stage that settles out onto its selected habitat, although little is known about this translation. Like crustaceans everywhere, their hard shells require them to molt or shed them as they grow too big for their bitches.
It eats molluscs, polychaete worms, shrimp, crabs and even sea urchins. Of course since they are all consumed raw, it is a sushi afficianado. In turn bony fish such as triggerfish chow down on them. During molting, before the new exoskeleton hardens for protection, they may even be munched on by other slipper lobsters! All species are edible for humans and some are exploited commercially.
Slipper lobsters have been on the Ocean Planet for 100-120 million years. My Dad traced the Bushing side of our family tree but it didn't go anywhere near as far back as that! Their closest relatives are the spiny lobster like our own Panulirus interruptus, although I fail to see much of a family resemblance. Come to think of it, I didn't see much similarity between me and many of my ancestors!
© 2018 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of nearly 800 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Slipper lobster emerging from coral head in Anilao, Philippines, and close-up showing legs (oo la la).
