This month we'll begin a short series on seafood. Guess what? It had a life before it became your dinner! Now, this is not going to be a series on how we should all stop eating seafood and become vegetarians. If you're a vegetarian, good for you. You're probably healthier than the rest of us! Personally, I still enjoy my seafood. Lobster has never been a favorite of mine, but maybe it is one of your favorites. I have some wonderful information for you to share with your dinner companions next time you're dining out. Make sure you go into detail with this, because everyone will be fascinated!(Not really).
The photo above is of Larry Lobster, a 17-pound lobster living in his own tank at Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America. This lobster was caught and was so big that the fisherman who caught it could not sell it. When a lobster is large like this it usually means that it is very old, (15 years or more), and it is illegal in the state of Maine to possess lobsters with a carapace (top shell) or 5 inches or more. Also, old lobsters are usually not very tasty. Lobsters eat whatever they can catch or find in the ocean, often crabs, sea stars, and sea urchins. Sometimes they will eat each other if they are living in crowded conditions. Now- there's a good topic for dinner conversation! So- just how do they go about their lives in the ocean? Here's how it's done.
Let's start with reproduction. A female lobster will look for a mate when it is about to molt. (We'll talk about molting in a little while.) She moves into his living area (shelter) and will usually molt a few days later. About 30 minutes later, when her new shell has hardened, she will stand upright. That's when the male lobster makes his move. He helps her to roll over, they fan each other with their tails, and the male transfers his sperm to the female. The female will stay with the male for a few days, and then leave. She will never return to that male. How does she know which male is which? Well, the male emits a hormone that she can pick up. That triggers her molting. If a female never mates with a male, she may never molt. The female carrying the eggs is called an "egger", or a "berried female" because the eggs look like small berries. Thousands of fertilized eggs will hide and develop under the female's tail section, attached to her swimmerets. It takes about a year for the eggs to develop into baby lobsters. Only about 1 percent of the eggs that the mother drops from her tail will live. (Click on this link to see a photo.)
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