Facts: The Lobster

Lobsters inhabit marine waters all around the world. True lobsters are part of a family of marine crustaceans called nephropodae, often referred to as the clawed lobsters due to their large pair of claws. Other groups such as slipper lobsters, squat lobsters, and spiny lobsters are not part of this family. True lobsters have a long body with a muscular tail. They are bottom dwelling, living in crevices and burrows on the seafloor. They like cold water. Lobsters have a jointed, hard-shelled body with armored segments. Their shell, called an exoskeleton, is very thick and made of a tough material called chitin. They have no internal skeleton. Most lobsters are a mottled brown color, but sometimes they are other colors like orange or even blue. They are cold-blooded, meaning that they cannot control their body temperature. It changes with the temperature of their environment. Lobsters have powerful claws. Some lobsters have one large and one small claw. The larger claw is called a crusher and used for crushing prey. The smaller one is called a pincer. It is more pointed and sharp and used for tearing food apart. The two sets of walking legs immediately behind the claws are also used for catching and eating food. The last two sets of legs are used primarily for walking. Lobsters usually move by slowly walking along the seafloor, but they can also swim to make a quick escape by curling and uncurling their abdomen. Lobsters usually move around and hunt for food at night. They like to eat things like crabs, clams, mussels, starfish, small fish, and sometimes even other lobsters. Lobsters have compound eyes, and they do have teeth, but they are not in the mouth. They are in the stomach. The stomach is located a very short distance from the mouth, and the food is actually chewed in the stomach between three grinding surfaces, called the gastric mill. Lobsters sense their food by using plantini on the front of their head and tiny sensing hairs that cover their body. Lobsters contain 15 nerve clusters called ganglia dispersed throughout their body, with a main ganglion located between their eyes. Each ganglion helps to control and process sensory information in a different segment of the lobster's body. A lobster's blood is circulated by a heart located just behind the stomach. Lobster gills extract oxygen from the seawater. Lobsters grow by molting, meaning they must shed their old shell and form a larger one. Molting happens many times when lobsters are very young, and then as they get older, molting will only happen once a year or once every two years. When they molt, the new shell is very soft, but it will soon harden. Molting takes a lot of energy. After molting, a lobster will eat voraciously, often devouring its own recently vacated shell. This replenishment of lost calcium quickens the hardening of the new shell. Lobsters have the ability to regenerate some of their body parts, for example the claws, walking legs, and antennae through molting. Lobsters continue to grow and reproduce until the end of their life. A female lobster mates with a male when she is in the soft shell state right after she has shed her shell. Female lobsters can carry live sperm for up to 2 years. At any time, a female may decide to fertilize her eggs. Female lobsters may carry thousands of eggs. Bigger lobsters carry more eggs than smaller lobsters. A female lobster carries her fertilized eggs attached to the swimmerets under her tail for 9 to 12 months. When the eggs hatch, the larvae will float near the surface for around 4 to 6 weeks. The few that survive will settle to the bottom and continue to develop as juvenile lobsters. Small lobsters hide in and around seaweed and rocks that provide shelter from predators. Adolescent lobsters dominate coastal habitats and offshore areas. Larger, more mobile adult lobsters may live in deeper waters and may return seasonally to shallow, warmer waters. The maximum age of a lobster is thought to be around 100 years. They can grow to be 3 ft or more in overall body length. Lobsters are highly prized as seafood. In many parts of the world, lobsters support commercially valuable fisheries. When lobsters are cooked, they turn bright red. This is because when a lobster is cooked in a pot of boiling water, the heat breaks down the blue and orange proteins in the shell, leaving just the bright red skin visible. For more marine facts, click the SUBSCRIBE button!!