{"id":2268,"date":"2026-08-24T14:03:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T14:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/?p=2268"},"modified":"2026-08-24T14:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T14:03:18","slug":"research-highlight-tiny-ocean-species-hold-clues-to-the-future-of-maine-lobster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/?p=2268","title":{"rendered":"Research Highlight: Tiny ocean species hold clues to the future of Maine lobster\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Over the last several years, scientists and resource managers have observed a decline in the number of young lobsters surviving into adulthood in the Gulf of Maine, despite an increasing number of lobsters being born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A team of researchers from Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences<\/strong> and the University of Maine<\/strong> have been tackling this lobster mystery. They\u2019ve discovered that larval lobsters preferentially feed on the tiny but mighty copepod Calanus finmarchicus<\/em> \u2014 the availability of which also appears to be declining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a new study, a team from UMaine, Bigelow Laboratory, and University of Southern Maine<\/strong>, combine traditional microscopy techniques and new environmental DNA tools to illuminate how important Calanus<\/em> are to the Gulf of Maine food web and how their decline could influence the future of the fishery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about the discovery at UMaine News<\/a> and read the full paper<\/a>, led by former UMaine-Bigelow Laboratory PhD student Alex Ascher <\/strong>and featuring Bigelow Laboratory Bigelow Laboratory researchers Peter Countway<\/strong>, David Fields<\/strong>, Maura Niemisto<\/strong>, and Robin Sleith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Lead author, Alex Ascher, holds a vial of larval lobsters (Credit:
Holland Haverkamp, University of Maine<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Related stories from Bigelow Laboratory:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers Develop Tools for Unlocking Larval Lobster Diet<\/a><\/strong> (June 25, 2025)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student Research Helps Shed Light on Lost Lobsters<\/a> (March 30, 2022)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the last several years, scientists and resource managers have observed a decline in the number of young lobsters surviving into adulthood in the Gulf of Maine, despite an increasing number of lobsters being born. A team of researchers from Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and the University of Maine have been tackling this lobster […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[57,27,29,58,108,94,54,60],"class_list":["post-2268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-ocean-function","tag-david-fields","tag-gulf-of-maine","tag-lobster","tag-peter-countway","tag-research-highlight","tag-robin-sleith","tag-students","tag-zooplankton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2268"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2291,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268\/revisions\/2291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}