American Clawed Lobster

Tags: Invertebrate, crustacean, lobster

Lobsters are large marine crustaceans. Lobsters are closely related shrimp and crabs. Did you know lobsters are also related to insects? They have ten legs. Their front legs consist of large, unequal sized claws. American clawed lobsters can grow to be about two feet in length. They are usually olive green to brownish in color. Lobsters turn bright red when they are cooked.

Where do American clawed lobsters live?

The American clawed lobster is also known as the Atlantic lobster or Maine lobster. They live along the North Atlantic coast of North America. They can be found along rocky ledges in shallow near-shore waters. Larger lobsters live in deeper water offshore.

Lobsters are bottom-dwelling animals. Therefore they have poor eyesight, but very good senses of taste and smell. Lobsters are nocturnal. They even have sense organs in their legs to detect food when no light is present.

How long do lobsters live?

In the wild, Atlantic lobsters can live to over 50 years old- maybe even 100 years old! Adult lobsters molt three or four times a year. Since they have exoskeletons, molting is what allows them to grow. A new soft shell grows under their old hard carapace.

What do lobsters eat?

Atlantic Lobsters are scavengers and predators. They will eat just about anything they can find on the bottom of the ocean. In other words, they are omnivores. So lobsters eat things like to fish, small crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other plants, detritus and even other lobsters.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.