Visiting scientist, Dr. Darwin Jorgensen (from Roanoke College in Virginia), and two of his undergraduate students, Vicki Brings and Micah Spruill, have been looking at the physiological support of underwater walking in lobsters and blue crabs. This lobster, walking at a speed of about 2 km/hr, is instrumented to measure hemolymph (blood) pressure in the circulatory system and hydrostatic pressure in the two gill chambers (located on either side of the thorax). The acrylic mask mounted at the head end of the animal collects the seawater exiting the two gill chambers. The yellow piece in the mask is an electromagnetic flow probe and is used to measure the amount of seawater being pumped through the gill chambers per minute. This work is designed to help us understand how the gills work in concert with the cardiovascular system to support migratory activity in these commercially-important crustaceans. Learn more about the lobster on a treadmill below.