The Sex Life of Lobsters

Trevor Corson’s book The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Favorite Crustacean is a mine of interesting information. For example, when he spoke to National Geographic he passed on a factoid that’s destined to stick in my mind for much longer than I’d really like:

[…]

How does a female seduce the male?

Essentially by drugging him into submission. When lobsters fight and when they flirt—in both cases they communicate with each other basically by pissing in each other’s faces. They have these little urine-release nozzles right under their eyes, and they squirt urine at each other.

The urine is laced with various kinds of information. In a fight it could be a communication of how aggressive or belligerent or dominant a lobster is.

The females, in this case of mating, go to the dominant male’s shelter entrance and squirt their pheromone-laced urine into his shelter. This relaxes [the alpha male] and reduces his aggression. He starts to swoon a little bit. He fans these little flippers under his tale to spread the urine around his apartment and savor its aroma.

[…]

What’s really icky is that later in the interview Corson drops this little revelation into the mix:

[…]

What’s the most surprising thing you learned about lobsters while researching your book?

Well, I had no idea about their mating habits, which are very interesting and surprising. At the same time, when you find out that this is what lobsters do, it’s sort of funny, because it sounds so familiar. [Emphasis added.]

[…]

The phrase “too much information” comes to mind…

[Via Exclamation Mark]