Transportation of Lobsters
to California – 1874, Part II
The following is the report of M. L. Perrin, employed by Livingston Stone, for the California Fish Commission, in the transportation of live lobsters upon the California aquarium car, June, 1874. —[S. F. Baird.]
(The first part of this report appeared in the July 2011 issue of the Fishermen’s Voice. It can be read online at http://www.fishermensvoice.com/
On June 3, 1874, 150 American lobsters were packed in specially built boxes in Boston. The trip in an aquarium railroad car to California was an experiment in establishing them on the west coast well before modern refrigeration.)
Tuesday, June 9, I took the straw from beneath every living lobster, and packed them all entirely with sponges. The rate of mortality decreased decidedly, and I am inclined to believe that without this change none would have lived to the end. The best way undoubtedly to pack a lobster is with sponges above, around, and beneath it, and also a small one directly under its nose.
The straw is quite bad for them to lie upon, because their claws become entangled in it, and it restrains them. This is very bad for a lobster. They should suffer no pressure or restraint. For this reason we were afterward glad that no straw had been used (by mistake as was thought) in their trip from Boston to Charlestown. I also tore out the partitions of several boxes, and found it much better; they were more active when opened, and appeared more healthy. The partitions offer a restraint to them, and are consequently injurious. When in an apartment with partitions, they never staid in the middle, but worked themselves over to one side, and struggled against the wooden partition; in this way tiring themselves out, which is of course an evil.
A lobster needs room to stretch all its limbs, if it wants to do so. For this reason they are better in boxes without partitions, provided they are not near enough together to bite each other. Rubber bands around the claws are an extreme case of restraint, and are extremely pernicious. Treated in this way, the animals live only a few days. Struggling is very detrimental to the vigor of a lobster; therefore they should not be restrained; for as surely as they are they will struggle against it, and not violently, but slowly, almost imperceptibly. There is a reacting impulse in the lobster against confinement. Though they do not move much, they need freedom to move, or there is an incentive to struggle. Therefore it would seem, as is truly the case, that, other things being equal, unrestrained lobsters have the best chances for life.
Pressure is as injurious as restraint. Sponges exert but very little pressure upon them, and they can easily move their claws among them. Ice must not cause any pressure upon the animal, nor must it freshen the water—another requirement met by a refrigerating apparatus. To prevent this pressure on the trip, I laid the ice as much as possible across the tops of the partitions and not above the lobsters.
Wednesday, June 10, at Ogden, Utah, we left one pair to be put into Salt Lake. Two very healthy and active lobsters were chosen, to make sure of this attempt, if possible. They were put into a, box packed entirely in sponges, and I gave instructions, and some salt water, to Mr. A. P. Rockwood, of Salt Lake City, Superintendent of Fisheries, who was personally to take charge of them. When leaving Utah, Wednesday night, we were reduced to eight lobsters and one pailful of salt water. Extra salt water is needed, not only to prevent the moisture in and around the sponges from becoming too fresh by melting of the ice, and other causes, but also to wet the sponges with when they become dry. It is a good thing, and quite necessary, often to pour salt water over the lobsters and sponges, without unpacking, in order to give them a change of water. It is well to repack them twice a day; but a liberal supply of new salt water should be poured over them at least once in three hours. The shell of the lobster must always be wet. Not only should the lobster touch nothing else but wet sponge, but it is indispensable also that it should be everywhere in contact with a wet sponge. It must nowhere be bare and exposed to the air, for the water upon its surface will quickly evaporate; and should you see a lobster with a dry spot on its back, you may be sure of its death shortly. A current of warm dry air, if endured even for a moment, is the lobster's worst enemy.
Thursday, June 11, near Beowawe, Nevada, a freight-train met us, bringing from the Pacific Ocean four barrels and four tin tanks of salt water. The water in the tin tanks was of course useless, but the rest was welcome and immediately used. The effect of an abundance of salt water was evident in the appearance of the lobsters. Repacking as often as three hours would be impossible for one person, if many lobsters were taken, and furthermore useless, and, what is a more important fact, which should be avoided; it would disturb the lobster, and if packed entirely in sponge, it would be necessary to lift the animal each time. It is much better to prepare the boxes for thorough drainage, and then pour on a good supply of salt water as often as once in three hours. The ideal condition of a lobster is, unrestrained, very cold, (and evenly so,) constantly wet with salt water, which should not become freshened by any agency, but often changed; and when in as good condition as possible, then disturb them just as little as possible. Lobsters can easily be killed with care.
Upon reaching San Francisco Bay, four lobsters were alive. These were put into the sea at Oakland wharf, Friday afternoon, June 12, nine days after they had been taken from the Atlantic ocean. It would have been better had the commissioners ordered them to be put farther out to sea, where the water was not so warm, and more salty. The four lobsters themselves probably did not live; but two were very full of spawn, and this probably matured. The death of a female lobster does not kill the spawn attached, which may live quite awhile afterward; and if, as in the present case, the spawn reaches again the natural condition of things (of the ocean) in safety, it matters not whether the parent lives. The facts that these four lobsters were females, and that their spawn lived and hatched, show that the eggs of the lobster are impregnated before leaving the female, and not afterward, as is the case with fishes. As a rule the females of lobsters are stronger and longer-lived, under difficulties, than males; and of females, spawning ones are the strongest.
Lobsters differ so much in constitution that, in order to succeed in the transportation of say ten animals, one cannot take them and attend to them carefully, thus bringing the desired result, but many must be taken in order to insure the chances for the safety and success of the ten. It is like throwing a die to bring a certain number: it is ineffectual and useless to throw once and more carefully that time, but many throws must be bargained for to insure success once. In the same way this difference in the constitution, original healthiness, and chances of life, affect the certainty of experimenting.
In order to transport live lobsters, it is without question indispensable to have a special car for the purpose, or at least one which shall run the whole journey. An excellent degree of coldness can more readily be preserved in the undisturbed atmosphere of an aquarium-car than in a constantly shifting express-car. The ice melts less, and the moisture does not evaporate so fast. In an express-car there are no facilities for soaking and drenching the lobsters and for changing the water often upon them by pouring from pails or by means of many devices, which can easily be arranged in a special car. In such a car the water which flows off the lobsters can readily run out of the car or through holes bored in the floor, and that which does not is in no danger of ruining any valuable express-matter. An excellent refrigerating arrangement can be prepared, if to be stationary, and to go from beginning to end with the lobsters. A great deal of room in which to work is very necessary, and cannot be dependent upon the amount of express which happens to be on board. Draughts of warm and dry air, which rush in from the four doors of an express-car, when open to receive or deliver goods at every station, and which, as we have seen, are extremely injurious, are avoided by a special car. Lobsters cannot be packed so as to be transferred at railroad junctions and changes of express companies. They cannot with success be portably arranged, but must be so situated that they can easily be attended to. The impracticability of interrupting the person in charge, when repacking the lot of lobsters in order to prepare for a change of cars, determines at once as infeasible the plan of carrying live lobsters by express. The jarring and disturbance which they would suffer in a few changes of cars would soon end their existence. Furthermore, the transferring of the numerous necessary tools, and especially the casks of salt water, would be a very weighty item.
Though successful in the life of the innumerable spawn which lived and have hatched since deposited in the bay of San Francisco, the effort of this year was accompanied with many results which need not be considered as necessarily attendant upon the transportation of live lobsters; but in order to get a knowledge of these needless evils, and those which are to be avoided, as well as of the means for promoting success, it is necessary once to make the attempt and search them out by experience.
Respectfully submitted.
June 1874