HOMARUS AMERICANUS 

THE AMERICAN LOBSTER

The Homarus Americanus, The American Lobster, is also known as the Massachusetts lobster, the Maine lobster, the Canadian lobster or the North Atlantic lobster.  But no matter what name you use, it is New England's best tasting and most famous seafood.  It is no wonder that throughout the world it is often referred to as the KING of SEAFOOD.

In biological terms, the lobster is considered an invertebrate, members of the Class Crustacea of the Phylum Anthropoda.  All animals are classed according to common anatomical features.  Crabs, shrimp, crayfish, water fleas, copepods, barnacles and wood lice are other crustaceans.  Lobsters (as are all crustaceans) are similar to insects and other arthropods.

Where are lobsters caught?
The American lobster is found on the east coast of North America, from Newfoundland to North Carolina.  In 1992, over 57 million pounds of lobsters were landed in the US, while Canadian provinces landed 94 millions pounds. Approximately 90% of US landings come from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine.

What do lobsters eat?
Lobsters usually move around and hunt for food at night.  It was once thought that lobsters were scavengers and ate primarily dead things. However, researchers have discovered that lobsters catch mainly fresh food (except for bait) which includes fish, crabs, clams, mussels, sea urchins and sometimes even other lobsters!  There are, however, many fish that eat baby lobsters.

Where do lobsters live?
Small lobsters - less than 1½ " carapace (carapace length is measured from the rear of the eye socket to the rear of the main body shell) - are very cryptic, hiding in and about sea weeds and rocky habitat that provide adequate food and shelter from predators.  Adolescent lobsters (1½" to 3½" carapace) dominate coastal habitats and offshore areas.  They generally exhibit minimal migratory behavior.  Larger, more adult lobsters may inhabit deeper waters, but return seasonally to shallow warmer waters.

Life Cycle of the Lobster
A female lobster mates primarily when she is in the soft-shell state right after she has shed her shell (molted).

A freshly laid lobster egg is the size of the head of a pin (1/16").

A 1-pound female lobster usually carries approximately 8000 eggs.  A 9-pound female may carry more than 100,000 eggs.   The female carries the eggs inside for 9 to 12 months, and then for another 9 to 12 months externally attached to the swimmerets under her tail.

When the eggs hatch, the larvae will float near the surface for 4 to 6 weeks. The few that survive will settle to the bottom and continue to develop as baby lobsters.  From every 50,000 eggs only 2 lobsters are expected to survive to legal size.

It takes 5 to 7 years for a lobster to grow to legal size in the ocean.  A lobster at legal size will weigh approximately 1 pound.

Lobsters grow by molting.  This is the process in which they struggle out of their old shells while simultaneously absorbing water which expands their body size.  This molting, or shell-shedding, occurs about 25 times in the first 5-7 years of life.  Following this cycle, the lobster will weigh approximately one pound and reach minimum legal size.  A lobster at minimum legal size may then only molt once per year and increase about 15% in length and 40% in weight.

No one has yet found a way to determine the exact age of a lobster. However, based on scientific knowledge of body size at age, the maximum age attained may approach 100 years. They can grow to be 3 feet or more in overall body length.

How Healthy is the Lobster Resource?
Lobster landings have increased significantly in the last decade; however, the number of traps fished and general efficiency of the fishing industry have also increased.  In the Northeast it is one of only a few fishery resources that is considered to be generally healthy.  Fishery and scientist, however, are continuing to work together to develop management measures which will help insure adequate egg production to sustain the resource and fishery.
 
What conservation methods are being practiced?
Conservation is currently practiced through the safeguarding of lobsters less than 3¼" carapace length.  Any lobster that has a smaller carapace length of 3¼" must be returned unharmed to the sea.  These lobsters are known as "shorts" or "sub-legals".  Egg-bearing females are also protected, and if caught, must be placed back in the sea.
 
Lobster traps have escape vents to allow sub-legal size lobsters to exit the trap while it is still on the bottom (they can come in, eat, then leave).  Not all "shorts" leave, however, and so the lobsterman must throw them back when they pull their trap onto the boat.  Lobster traps must also have biodegradable escape panels which will create a large opening and neutralize the fishing potential of a lost trap.  With the escape panel open, a lost trap or pot actually becomes a habitat providing shelter without entrapment.

Interesting Facts
Besides the greenish-brown colored lobsters, there are also rare blue, yellow , red and white ones.   Except for the white ones, they all turn red when cooked.

After molting, lobsters will eat voraciously, often devouring their own recently vacated shells. This replenishment of lost calcium hastens the hardening of the new shell.

Like all arthropods, the nervous system of the a lobster is very primitive, and contains far fewer nerve cells than our nervous systems.  The nerve cells are grouped in clusters called ganglia.  A lobster has no cerebral cortex, the area of the human brain that perceives pain.

Lobsters are capable of reflex amputation (autonomy).  They can discard a limb to allow escape so as to prevent more serious injury; this can be a life-saving phenomenon.  Lobsters have the ability to regenerate some of their body parts, for example, the claws, walking legs, and antennae.  The fact that the lobster is capable of limb loss and regeneration is indicative of a very primitive central nervous system and their differential sensitivity to pain compared to humans or other types of animals (they can "drop" a claw and go off like nothing happened.  Could you drop an arm or a leg like that?).

Lobsters do not have vocal chords.  Since this is true, they do not scream or vocalize when cooked.  Any sound you hear could be that of air escaping from the lobster's body cavity as it expands from heating.

Lobsters "smell" their food by using the four small antennae on the front of their heads and tiny sensing hairs that cover their bodies.

The teeth of the lobster are in its 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 that look like molar surfaces, called the "gastric mill".

Lobster is the biggest single fishing industry in the Northeast.  Lobster accounted for 25% of all fishing revenue for the Northeast in 1996.  The lobster fishery was valued at $242 million and supported about 50,000 jobs.