This article is about clawed lobsters. Lobsters have long bodies with muscular tails, and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Boiled mussels of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, which are usually much larger than the others.
Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate. Although several other groups of crustaceans have the word “lobster” in their names, the unqualified term “lobster” generally refers to the clawed lobsters of the family Nephropidae. Lobsters are invertebrates with a hard protective exoskeleton. Like most arthropods, lobsters must shed to grow, which leaves them vulnerable.
During the shedding process, several species change color. Lobster anatomy includes two main body parts: the cephalothorax and the abdomen. The cephalothorax fuses the head and the thorax, both of which are covered by a chitinous carapace. Lobsters, like snails and spiders, have blue blood due to the presence of hemocyanin, which contains copper. In contrast, vertebrates and many other animals have red blood from iron-rich hemoglobin. Lobsters of the family Nephropidae are similar in overall form to a number of other related groups. Analysis of the neural gene complement revealed extraordinary development of the chemosensory machinery, including a profound diversification of ligand-gated ion channels and secretory molecules.
Typically, lobsters are dark colored, either bluish green or greenish brown as to blend in with the ocean floor, but they can be found in a multitude of colors. Sub-type of split-colored, specifically orange and black. Lobsters live up to an estimated 45 to 50 years in the wild, although determining age is difficult: it is typically estimated from size and other variables. Newer techniques may lead to more accurate age estimates. Research suggests that lobsters may not slow down, weaken or lose fertility with age, and that older lobsters may be more fertile than younger lobsters. Lobsters, like many other decapod crustaceans, grow throughout life and are able to add new muscle cells at each moult.
Lobster longevity allows them to reach impressive sizes. According to Guinness World Records, the largest lobster ever caught was in Nova Scotia, Canada, weighing 20. Lobsters live in all oceans, on rocky, sandy, or muddy bottoms from the shoreline to beyond the edge of the continental shelf. They generally live singly in crevices or in burrows under rocks.
Lobsters are omnivores and typically eat live prey such as fish, mollusks, other crustaceans, worms, and some plant life. They scavenge if necessary, and are known to resort to cannibalism in captivity. However, when lobster skin is found in lobster stomachs, this is not necessarily evidence of cannibalism because lobsters eat their shed skin after moulting. However, when they flee, they swim backward quickly by curling and uncurling their abdomens. This is known as the caridoid escape reaction. Symbiotic animals of the genus Symbion, the only known member of the phylum Cycliophora, live exclusively on lobster gills and mouthparts. For the species of flowering plants, see Lobster-claw.
Lobster is commonly served boiled or steamed in the shell. Diners crack the shell with lobster crackers and fish out the meat with lobster picks. The meat is often eaten with melted butter and lemon juice. Cooks boil or steam live lobsters. When a lobster is cooked, its shell’s color changes from blue to orange because the heat from cooking breaks down a protein called crustacyanin, which suppresses the orange hue of the chemical astaxanthin, which is also found in the shell. American lobster between 2005 and 2007 was 0. Lobster has been eaten by humans since the prehistoric period.
Large piles of lobster shells near areas populated by fishing communities attest to the crustacean’s extreme popularity during this period. During the mid to late Roman period, lobster became a popular mid range delicacy. The price of lobster could vary widely due to a variety of factors, but evidence indicates that lobster was regularly transported inland over long distances to meet popular demand. A mosaic found in the ruins of Pompeii suggests that the spiny lobster was of considerable interest to the Roman population during the early imperial period. Lobster was a popular food among the Moche people of Peru during the period between 50 CE and 800 CE. Besides its use as food, lobster shells were also used to create a light pink dye, ornaments, and tools. A mass produced lobster shaped effigy vessel dated to this period attests to the popularity of lobster at this time, though the purpose of this vessel has not been identified.
The Viking period saw an increase of lobster and other shellfish consumption among northern Europeans. This can be attributed to the overall increase of marine activity at this time due to the development of better boats and the increasing cultural investment in building ships and training sailors. The consumption of marine life went up overall in this period, and the consumption of lobster went up in accordance with this general trend. Unlike fish, however, lobster had to be cooked within two days of leaving salt water, limiting the availability of lobster to inland dwellers.