Biology of lobsters

• What envoirnment do lobsters generally live in? 

Lobsters are found in all oceans. They live on rocky, sandy, or muddy bottoms from the shoreline to beyond the edge of the continental shell.  They generally live singly in crevices or in burrows under rocks.

• How do lobsters grow?

Lobsters grow by molting, or shedding their shells. Just after they molt, they are soft and fragile until their new shell has hardened. During this time, the lobster buries itself in the mud to hide from its natural enemies. When they are young, an immature lobster will molt several times each year. It takes approximately seven years for a lobster to grow to legal harvesting size (1-1 /4 lb.). At this age, they molt just once a year, usually during the summer months. Each molt will increase their size by 1/4 lb. on average. When lobsters get older, they will often skip years, and molt less frequently.

• Types of lobsters

When most people think of a lobster, they are probably thinking of a Maine lobster. In fact there are two main types of lobster common in the world, Clawed lobsters and Spiny Lobsters.

Maine lobster  - Clawed Lobsters - There are two different species of clawed lobsters, the American lobster and the European lobster. The two types of lobster are similar in size but the European lobsters typically have a darker color and the claws may be slightly smaller. The American Lobsters are found off of the east coast of the United States and Canada. The American Lobster also known as a Maine lobster is most common live in restaurants and supermarkets. Clawed lobsters contain more meat then spiny lobsters thus they are most commonly sold live. Clawed lobsters are typically cold water lobsters. Clawed lobsters thrive in cold, shallow waters as far north as New Found land and as far south as North Carolina. Lobsters usually live in deep water in the fall and return to shallower depths in the spring

Spiny Lobster - Spiny lobsters have no claws, have a harder shell and have very large antenna. The two main regions that support spiny lobsters are the California coast and in the Caribbean. Because spiny lobsters have no claws, most of the meat is contained in the lobster tails. Because of this, spiny lobsters are most often sold live locally or usually harvested just for the lobster tail. Spiny lobsters are typically warm water lobsters.

• How to tell the difference between a male and female lobster.

Look under its tail. On the underside of its tail, a lobster has swimmerets, which are used to help the lobster swim and in mating. The male has a modified pair of swimmerets.