Joseph Kunkel presents at US-Canada Science Symposium

Last month, Research Professor of Marine Sciences Joseph Kunkel and two co-researchers presented at a U.S.-Canada Science Symposium, which was held in Portland, Maine.  The symposium was titled “The American Lobster in a Changing Ecosystem," and Kunkel presented “The Role of Apatite in Lobster Health.”  

Kunkel’s presentation discussed the debate over the form and role of calcium carbonate and phosphate in the American lobster (Homarus americanus) cuticle and their possible functions.

In 2005, Kunkel and his co-researchers began a series of studies to examine the mineral properties of the lobster shell in normal and shell diseased individuals. In addition to calcium carbonate mineral forms, they identified four focal locations of minerals with carbonate apatite consistent chemistry.

The locations and potential roles of these mineral deposits are consistent with the cuticle's role in protecting the lobster from physical and microbial attack, and they represent potential targets for shell disease strategies. The erosion of mineral may be the first step in lesion formation, which likely starts at imperfections of the cuticle, which the researchers argue, may be mineral based.
 

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