Lobsters are important resources throughout the world's oceans, providing food security, employment, and a trading commodity. Whereas marine biologists generally focus on modern impacts of fisheries, here we explore the deep history of lobster exploitation by prehistorical humans and ancient civilizations, through the first half of the 20th century. Evidence of lobster use comprises midden remains, artwork, artefacts, writings about lobsters, and written sources describing the fishing practices of indigenous peoples. Evidence from archaeological dig sites is potentially biased because lobster shells are relatively thin and easily degraded in most midden soils; in some cases, they may have been used as fertilizer for crops instead of being dumped in middens. Lobsters were a valuable food and economic resource for early coastal peoples, and ancient Greek and Roman Mediterranean civilizations amassed considerable knowledge of their biology and fisheries. Before European contact, lobsters were utilized by indigenous societies in the Americas, southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand at seemingly sustainable levels, even while other fish and molluscan species may have been overfished. All written records suggest that coastal lobster populations were dense, even in the presence of abundant and large groundfish predators, and that lobsters were much larger than at present. Lobsters gained a reputation as “food for the poor” in 17th and 18th century Europe and parts of North America, but became a fashionable seafood commodity during the mid-19th century. High demand led to intensified fishing effort with improved fishing gear and boats, and advances in preservation and long-distance transport. By the early 20th century, coastal stocks were overfished in many places and average lobster size was significantly reduced. With overfishing came attempts to regulate fisheries, which have varied over time and have met with limited success.

The freshwater migration of elvers of the American eel Anguilla rostrata was continuously monitored at the freshwater interface and three locations in the lower stretches of a Rhode Island brook in 1980. Most elvers arrived at the freshwater interface in May and were incompletely pigmented. Although their initial arrival coincided with a large increase in water temperature, subsequent captures at the interface did not correlate with any measured environmental variable including water temperature, time of day, and tidal condition. Elvers appeared to delay upstream migration at the interface while experiencing behavioral and physiological changes. Two hundred meters above the interface, elvers were caught primarily at midday and capture records showed a significant 14.8‐d periodicity corresponding to, but lagging behind, that of spring tides. The onset of upstream migration may have been triggered by changes in water chemistry caused by the intrusion of estuarine water during high spring tides. Further upstream, captures persisted through October and lacked both diurnal and 14.8‐d periodicity. Migration in fresh water appeared highly stochastic; light and water temperature showed a weak positive correlation with some capture rates, and rain occasionally influenced migration at one location by altering river flow. The behavioral changes that elvers undergo during their entry into fresh water, coupled with the apparent influence of local hydrographic conditions on migration, may explain discrepancies among prior studies. The behavior of elvers of the American eel is similar to that of other species of freshwater eel.

The European eel is a highly migratory fish. After the reproduction in the Sargasso Sea early larval-stages start a passive ocean migration towards European and Mediterranean continental waters. After several years as yellow eels, mature adults change to silver stage and then start their return trip. The trajectory of their backward migration is unknown, because of low probability of capturing migrating individuals, having this capture never been reported in the Mediterranean. Recently, 8 silver eels were collected in the Strait of Sicily. Using literature information about possible individual route and speed, their geographical position was projected up to the spawning site during reproductive season. Despite using optimal and continuous migration swimming speed, none of the specimens may have been able to reach the Sargasso Sea in time for mating. Subsequently, to identify putative Mediterranean areas from which eels could have been reaching the spawning grounds on time, a backward scenario was postulated using the previous scientific assumptions. Our results suggests that just a small quota of Mediterranean silver males successfully reaches the Sargasso area, and only females from the westernmost and central parts of the basin could be able to fruitfully pond their eggs during the supposed spawning period.