How spiny lobsters make scary noises.(Brief Article)

From: Science News | Date: May 19, 2001| Author: S.M. | Copyright information

On an evolutionary tree, spiny lobsters sit near crickets. Yet musically, the crustaceans belong closer to a person torturing a violin. Crickets make the sound track for summer by rubbing a hardened scraper, against a patch of ridges. One of the insect's forewings carries the scraper and the other has the ridges. In the May 10 NATURE, Sheila N. Patek of Duke University in Durham, N.C., reports that spiny lobsters rely on an entirely different mechanism to generate their raspy racket...

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