The strength of a lobster's claw indicates muscle mass, which in turn is an indicator of health.
For the last few decades, lobsters have had to prove that they were healthy enough to ship by having blood drawn.
Now, thanks to a Connecticut native, all they’ll have to do is prove their strength in the most lobster of methods: by squeezing sensors with their claws.
Matthew Hodgkin, currently an undergrad at the University of Maine -- and originally from Colebrook, Connecticut -- developed the procedure at the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute alongside Lobster Institute’s Executive Director Bob Bayer, mechanical engineering professor Michael Peterson, and mechanical engineering student Thomas McKay.
Hodgkin’s device requires lobsters to squeeze with their crusher claws. The strength of the claw indicates muscle mass, which in turn is an indicator of health. A healthy lobster with significant muscle mass will be able to withstand the stress of shipping.
This new method of measuring lobster health is both less invasive for the lobster and more efficient for the lobster industry, the researchers say. More healthy lobsters will result in more efficient shipping of the 120 million pounds of lobster a year that currently flows from the state of Maine.
Julia Pistell is an intern at WNPR.
