BIOLOGY OF LOBSTERS

Sany Mary Benjamin

II M.Sc Zoology
• Lobsters are crustaceans and members of
the Arthropod phylum. Crustaceans are
characterized by hard shells and jointed
appendages
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION

• Kingdom:Animalia
• Phylum:Arthropoda
• Subphylum:Crustacea
• Class:Malacostraca
• Order:Decapoda
• Infraorder:Astacidea
• Family:Nephropidae
• Lobsters are economically important
as seafood, forming the basis of a global
industry that nets more than US $1 billion
annually.
• Though several groups of crustaceans are
known as "lobsters," the clawed lobsters
are most often associated with the name.
• Revered for their flavor and texture.
 DISTRIBUTION
• All lobsters are aquatic.
• The rock lobsters and their non-clawed
relatives are marine .
• The clawed types, such as the Maine
lobster and scampi, live in the sea .
• Yabbies and freshwater crayfish live in
rivers, lakes or burrow in swampy areas.
 IMPORTANT SPECIES
• The northern or East Coast lobster (Homarus
americanus)
• Abundant and widespread species of the
Atlantic coast of ,North America ranging as far
north as Labrador to as far south as Virginia.
• Some animals caught in relatively deep places
on the continental slope have exceeded 3 ft (1
m) in length and 44 lb (20 kg) in weight.
• Probably more than 100 years old.
• The European lobster (Homarus vulgaris)
is a closely related species, occurring in
temperate waters of western Europ.
• The Norwegian lobster or scampi
(Nephrops norvegicus) is an even smaller
lobster that ranges from the Norwegian
coast to the Adriatic coast in the eastern
Mediterranean Sea.
• There are two species of spiny lobsters in
North America. The West Coast spiny
lobster (Panulirus interruptus) occurs on
the Pacific coast.
• The Caribbeanspiny lobster (P. argus)
occurs in the Caribbean Sea, off the
Florida Coast, and in the Gulf of Mexico.
• These are devoid of typical claws.
 ECOLOGY AND FISHERIES
• They inhabit shallow near shore rocky or
reef environments, rarely to 1000 metres
depth.
• Cryptic, hiding in rock crevices during the
day and coming out at night to feed
• Analyses of stomach contents tell us that
they usually feed on small invertebrates
and occasionally on algae.
• Typical male lobsters will deposit packets of sperm on the underside
of the female.
• External fertilization
• The female can store the sperm for several months, waiting for the
egg-laying season, which typically occurs during July and August.
Females breed every two years.
• Female lobsters carry their eggs (known as berries) beneath their
abdomen, attached to structures called spinnerets.
• The number of eggs is related to the size of the female, and is
typically about 5,000 eggs for a 10 in (25 cm) long female, and
40,000 for a 14 in (36 cm) long animal.
• One 17 in (43 cm) long female had 63,000 eggs, and another
slightly larger one had 97,000.
• The egg masses are periodically waved on their
spinnerets to ensure their access to clean, well-
oxygenated water.
• Female lobsters carry their eggs for 10-11 months.
• Hatchling lobsters are planktonic and commonly
disperse quite widely with water currents.
• After their fifth molt, when they are about 1 in (2.5 cm)
long, the young lobsters go to the bottom and begin the
relatively sedentary existence that they have for the rest
of their lives.
• Lobsters are extremely vulnerable to the
vagaries of drift and predation when they
are in their planktonic stage, and when
they are benthic but small. This is the
reason for the enormous reproductive
output of these animals.
 LARVAL CYCLE
• When first hatched, a lobster doesn't look
at all like an adult lobster (which may be
why lobstermen call it a "bug").
• Feathery hairs on its legs help it swim in
the water for the first month or so.
• Most lobster larva are found within the top
meter of the sea's surface.
• Here the lobster will molt, or shed its
shell, three times before it begins to look
like a miniature adult.
• By that time, as a "fourth-stage" lobster, it is between 15 days and a month
old. At this stage, the lobster is a very good swimmer, although it appears to
be helplessly bobbing up and down in the water column
• After the lobster settles to the bottom, it molts to the fifth stage
• At this point, a small lobster still has many enemies. It spends the first year
or so in a small tunnel which it can excavate, or in a natural crevice beneath
cobble or other hard bottom material.
• During the first year, the lobster captures small prey which are carried in
water which the lobster pumps through its living space using its abdominal
pleopods (small appendages called swimmerrets under the flexible
abdomen, which is commonly called the "tail.")
• The tiny lobster spends the next few years, until almost age four, hiding
under seaweed and small rocks, catching food that drifts down to it. At this
size it may also stalk and eat little shrimp-like creatures, amphipods and
isopods, called "sand fleas," even though they may be twice its size.
 DIET
• Consists of crabs, clams, mussels, worms,
and an occasional sea urchin or slow-
witted flounder.
• A lobster may eat up to 100 different
kinds of animals, and occasionally eats
some plants as well.
• Captive lobsters become cannibalistic
 LOBSTER FISHING
• Lobster fishing is part of the
larger fishing industry. It uses tools such as
boats, navigation, and other fishing technology.
• Fishing technology specific to the lobster
industry generally includes traps, either
rectangular-shaped or half-cylinders, once made
from oak (coated with tar)
• Now the traps are primarily made from wire
mesh covered with a thick layer of plastic to
reduce oxidation of the metal. 
• Lobster traps, or pot warp, are connected to
each other and to a buoy with rope.
LOBSTER TRAWLER-
MASSACHUSETTS
TRADITIONAL MAINE BOAT
LOBSTER POTS
 LOBSTER POTS
• An opening permits the lobster to enter a
tunnel of netting.
• Pots are usually constructed in two parts,
called the "chamber" or “kitchen”, where
there is bait
• The pot exits into the “parlour”, where it is
trapped from escape.
 LOBSTER RANCHING
• Lobster "ranching" would likely involve capturing pregnant females and growing their
young offspring in captivity, to be harvested when they reach a marketable size.

• Domestication of lobsters is more complex

• It involve keeping carefully selected breeding stock, and periodically spawning these
mature animals to produce progeny that could be reared under conditions optimized
for their growth.

• Controlled breeding could lead to the development of breeding stock that was
genetically optimized for docility, growth rate, ease of spawning, resistance to
disease, and other desirable traits.

• Cultivation systems for lobsters are not well developed, and virtually all harvesting is
done from wild stocks of these animals.
 ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE
• Lobster meat is eaten world wide
• Lobster recipes include Lobster
Newberg and Lobster Thermidor.
• Lobster is used variously, for example in
soup, bisque, lobster rolls, and cappon
magro.
• Lobster meat may be dipped in clarified
butter, resulting in a sweetened flavour.
• The cooked  lobster is called 'coral',
referring to its red color when cooked.
LOBSTER IN BUTTER SAUCE
COOKED EUROPEAN LOBSTER