Lobster Lives micro-lesson

This lesson is about the really cool animal, the lobster. So, the normal human life cycle is that we start small, and we grow. We get older but, at a point, we stop growing. And when we grow very old, our cells can no longer repair themselves and this causes us to get weaker. But lobsters never stop growing as they age. This is called indeterminate growth. They also do not seem to slow down like we do. They continue to grow and get stronger as they get bigger. Some lobsters have been found to be up to 120 years old. Also, lobsters at any age can regrow or regenerate limbs. Lose a claw, no problem, just grow another one. Like us, lobsters have cells that contain chromosomes which are structures made up of DNA. The ends of these structures are capped by sequences called telomeres. In humans, each time a cell divides, the telomeres are shortened. When they are too short, the whole cell sequence is too short and can no longer divide. The reason lobsters do not seem to slow down in old age is because they have a lot of special telomerase enzymes throughout their cells. This enzyme can extend the cell’s life and in lobsters, this means putting off the effects of old age.