American Lobster

Introduction

I look at the American lobster and wonder - who was the first person daring enough to eat this truly bizarre looking creature? Commercial lobstermen call these curious looking creatures - "Bugs" while restaurateurs call them the "King of seafood"! Imagine a creature so bizarre that "smells" with antennae and "tastes" with its feet. That's the lobster! BUT - the lobster can also be like us!

• Like us, the lobster has a very complex life cycle - long childhood, tempestuous and sometimes awkward adolescence, and adulthood also has the animal facing many obstacles to survival.
• Female lobsters carry their young for at least nine months and may live to be over 100 years old.
• Lobsters don't have a language that we understand BUT they do communicate via very complicated signals to explore their world and establish social relationships.
• Lobsters like many of us also take seasonal treks that can cover many, many miles each year.

So what exactly is a lobster? How many different kinds of lobster are there? Lobsters are marine crustaceans and there are about 163 species described in the literature. Recently (since 2005) two more species have been discovered one blond and furry lobster in a Pacific vent community and another in an isolated fishing ground off the coast of Madagascar. Who knows then, how many more species of lobster may still be undiscovered in our largely unexplored ocean.

Commercially important and edible lobsters are divided into two families. The American lobster belongs to the family Nephopidae along with a very similar relative the black European lobster (Homarus gammarus). These lobsters are so closely related that they can interbreed! Lobsters having two large claws and a relatively smooth carapace characterize this family. The American lobster is generally restricted to cold northwest Atlantic waters along the coast of southern Canada and northeast United States and the European lobster is generally restricted to the cold northeast Atlantic mostly along the coast of Norway. The second family of edible lobsters is Palinuridae. These lobsters lack large claws and have spines all over their bodies. Palinuridae lobsters are the spiny and rock lobsters found in subtropical and tropical ocean waters. Their meat is what is usually found in lobster salad and they are the tails often served in many seafood chain restaurants. Our focus here will be the American lobster (Homarus americanus).