Mutant six-clawed lobster found

September 13, 2013 • 7:35 am

Reader Ginger K. sent in this picture of a six-clawed lobster named Lola (she’s 10 years old and weighs 4 lbs or about 2 kg) which was caught off Hyannis, Massachusetts the other day. Lola will be put on show, not eaten.

best-lobster-photo-
Photo by Richard Figueiredo F/V Rachel Leah via Maine State Aquarium

“This claw deformity is a genetic mutation,” aquarium manager Aimee Hayden-Roderiques told WMTW-TV in Maine. “Sometimes they have this throughout their life, sometimes this happens during a regeneration from a damaged or lost claw.”

[Edit from Matthew Cobb: Well maybe it is a mutation, as Jerry’s title says. But how do we know? This kind of mistake often happens during development and is not in fact genetic. The key would be to see whether it’s transmissible to the next generation. And an additional edit by Greg Mayer: Also, it’s not 6 clawed: a ‘claw’ (technically a “cheliped”) has a pair of fingers, one fixed and one mobile. So there’s a normal claw on the right, 2 claws on the left, plus an additional unpaired ‘finger’ on the right that does not clearly have the occlusal surface of a true finger. So, maybe 3.5 claws. ]

27 thoughts on “Mutant six-clawed lobster found”

  1. How does inheritance work in lobsters – I mean are they determined on chromosomes such as XX & XY in humans, or does something else determine sex like temperature with crocodiles? Some creatures can chancge sex – famously slipper limpets naturally & some other creatures due to pollution. Can a lobster change sex?

    1. Could an infection have been responsible or a parasite? Thinking how trees fork if a central bud is removed…

      1. An infection might be the cause. The “chitrym-something” which is fingered in world-wide frog declines is also IIRC associated with similar partial or complete limb duplications in amphibians.

  3. Isn’t this still a two clawed lobster but one of its claws has extra pincers?

    Maybe my question is “what defines a claw”? Is a claw like a hand that has (normally) five fingers but sometimes has extras?

  4. Big lobsters like that would taste terrible anyway. I bet that pincher claw could vice grip off a finger! I love the lobster already!

      1. The meat can be not as tender or as sweet. There are rules about catching big ol lobsters anyway (I think no bigger than 4 pounds?? not sure). There are min sizes allowed too to allow lobsters to mature & reproduce.

          2. Are you saying that they don’t get enough food re: fish? Lobsters and crabs eat the crap on the bottom.

            Or are you saying the lobsters are smaller because we catch the big ‘uns? I know in many areas, lobsters have a min & max size that they can be caught…otherwise they go back in.

          3. Well fish are smaller because we catch the big ‘uns – perhaps lobsters are compared with their size historically? Also if we catch the medium sized ones, that will lead to a strange population imbalance, & fewer big lobsters in the future. Surely it should be mature lobsters & a quota of those caught set by total weight rather than size?

  5. The duplication of limb parts is a well known response to injury in arthropods and other animals that regenerate limbs. The give-away here is the mirror symmetry of the claw elements. This is indicative of pattern regulation, restoring local continuity of structures. Similar effects can be produced experimentally. Lo, and behold:
    See figure 3
    This one was produced by surgically switching between left and right legs, but the same effect can occur after an injury followed by interference with the normal course of wound healing. Olde developmental biologists like me are familiar with these sorts of things.

    2. I suppose you could try toadying up to “the management” to get more amphibians.
      Is that punishment enough?

  10. But Lola smiled and took me by the hand
    And said “Dear boy, I’m gonna make you a man.”
    L-O-L-A, Lola.

    A mixed up, muddled up, shook up world indeed.

  11. “…And an additional edit by Greg Mayer: Also, it’s not 6 clawed: a ‘claw’ (technically a “cheliped”) has a pair of fingers, one fixed and one mobile. So there’s a normal claw on the right, 2 claws on the left, plus an additional unpaired ‘finger’ on the right that does not clearly have the occlusal surface of a true finger. So, maybe 3.5 claws. ]”

    I’m inclined to agree with Greg on this.

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