Photo of the Week: June 18, 2012

Hi Gang!

This week’s POTW is a shot of a lobster that I captured on a night dive in Hawaii this past May. But unlike most of the lobster shots in my photographic library, the featured species is a type of slipper lobster, not a spiny lobster. The week’s star subject is most commonly known as a regal slipper lobster. It is also less commonly referred to by the name of the shovel-nosed lobster. Taxonomists and other specialists know the animal as Arctides regalis.

As is the case with other species of slipper lobsters, the flattened carapace of the regal slipper lobster causes many people to believe that its body bears some resemblance to the shoes we often refer to as slippers. Others describe the body as looking like some kind of very large armored pill bug. Slipper lobsters lack the long antennae possessed by spiny lobsters. They also lack the large claws found in species such as the Maine lobster. As is the case with the individual featured in this week’s shot, the bodies of many regal slipper lobsters routinely display a combination of eye-catching red, orange, yellow, purple and blue parts.

The regal slipper lobster tends to be much more active, and therefore more likely to be seen, at night when it searches the sea floor for a variety of worms, snails, clams and other and mollusks to fill its stomach. During daylight hours regal slipper lobsters usually take cover by hiding on the ceilings of caves, under ledges and overhangs, and in other holes in the latticework of reef communities

As is the case with all crustaceans, slipper lobsters have an external skeleton known as an exoskeleton. The exoskeleton encases the body like a coat of armor. In addition to providing protection, the hard exoskeleton gives support for a lobster’s internal organs and provides a place of attachment for their muscles. As is the case with other crustaceans the regal slipper lobster has to shed its exoskeleton periodically in an act known as molting in order to grow.

Molting is generally believed to occur at night. When molting a regal slipper lobster will turn onto its back as is crawls out of its old skeleton. It then excretes a new exoskeleton that it enlarges giving itself room to grow. It can take several hours for the new skeleton to harden. During this molting period the soft-bodied lobster is vulnerable to predators.

When full-grown, regal slipper lobsters reach a length of close to eight inches. Slipper lobsters are edible, but they are not found in sufficient numbers in Hawaii, or most other destinations, to support any kind of commercial effort.

I created this week’s POTW with a Nikon D300 camera and a 105 mm lens. I used a pair of Ikelite DS-161?s to light the shot. I also used a Light & motion Sola light as a focusing light to help me find and focus my lens on the lobster.

I hope you enjoy this week’s POTW!

See you next week,

Marty