BLUE HILL — Modern scientists who try to understand the biology of the mysterious lobster owe a heavy debt to the work of a scientist who died more than 60 years ago and who did his most of his lobster research more than a century ago.

According to J. Stanley Cobb, a professor emeritus at the University of Rhode Island and himself a noted lobster biologist, many of the ideas on which modern lobster science and management are based can be traced to the work of Francis Hobart Herrick. The first professor of biology at what is now Case Western Reserve University, Herrick published his definitive work on lobsters in 1895.

Cobb spoke at the Marine Environmental Research Institute last Thursday to a packed audience that included several lobster fishermen. According to Cobb, in “a time of cataloging the natural world,” Herrick was “ahead of his day.”

According to Cobb, Herrick began his study of lobsters during a period when “the bottom fell out of lobsters, or at least the catch.” That period was 1880-1895.

Early in his research, Herrick realized that he could measure the eyespot of a lobster embryo to determine its age. Although the equipment they use is more sophisticated, scientists still use the same technique in their studies of embryonic lobsters.

Herrick also studied “allometric relationships” — that measure the difference in growth rates between one body part and another in lobsters. His early work was the basis for much more modern science that explores changes in the lobster’s neurophysiology and applies the results toward understanding how lobster hatchery results might be improved.

Although the topic was not directly related to Herrick’s work, Cobb talked about the physiology of how lobsters molt and explained how that relates to the shell disease that plagues the lobster industry in southern New England. Although not yet common in the Gulf of Maine, shell disease, which causes ulcers in the shells of lobsters that can weaken the animal and expose it to other infection, “is epidemic south of Cape Cod,” Cobb said.

Cobb also discussed the evolution of scientific theories to explain why there are so many lobsters at present despite increased fishing pressure. Among the theories he outlined were the expansion of lobster habitat, increases in feed, decreased predation and climate change. According to Cobb, the distribution of lobsters across the continental shelf has been expanding at the same time that lobstermen have been putting more bait into the water. With only a small percentage of lobsters actually staying in traps, he said, it is possible that the abundance of feed could contribute to that expansion.

Cobb also said that data shows that the waters of the Gulf of Maine are “much warmer than they were 40 years ago.” While lobsters show an increased birth rate in warmer waters, it isn’t clear, he said, that there is any direct correlation between the increase the lobster population and rising water temperatures in the gulf.

Cobb also said that the virtual disappearance of cod — historically the main predator of lobsters — from New England waters may not be a significant factor in the increase of the lobster population. According to Cobb, in a recent study a Canadian scientist found just seven lobsters in the 34,000 cod bellies he examined.