Lobsters can live a long time

It takes an Atlantic lobster 6-7 years to get to an edible size, but that is just the beginning. Lobsters are long-lived animals, and are thought to be capable of living over 100 years.

Lobsters molt

A lobster’s shell can’t grow, therefore as the lobster gets bigger and older, it molts and forms a new shell. Molting occurs about once a year in an adult lobster and is a vulnerable time in which the lobster retreats to a hiding spot and withdraws out of its shell. After molting the lobster’s body is very soft and it can take a few months for its shell to harden again. When fish markets advertise soft-shell lobsters, these are lobsters that have recently molted.

Lobsters can grow to over 3 feet

The largest lobster was caught off of Nova Scotia, and weighed 44 pounds, 6 ounces and was 3 feet, 6 inches long. Scientists believe it was at least 100 years old.

Lobsters are not red in the wild

When you think of a lobster, you might think of a bright red creature. Most lobsters are a brown to olive-green color in the wild, with only a reddish tinge. Lobsters have a carotenoid pigment called astaxanthin in their shell, which provides a red coloring. However, in most lobsters, this reddish color is mixed with other colors to form the lobster’s normal coloration. Astaxanthin is stable in heat, while the other pigments are not. This means that when a lobster is cooked, the other pigments break down, leaving only the bright red astaxanthin, thus a bright red lobster on your plate!

Lobsters prefer live food

Although they have a reputation for being scavengers and even cannibals, studies of wild lobsters show that they prefer live prey, such as fish, mollusks, worms and crustaceans.

Lobsters have not always been considered chic eats

In 17th- and 18th-century, they were so abundant in Eastern Canada and United States that they were often used as fertilizer. Laws were even passed forbidding people to feed servants lobster more than twice a week. However, improvements in transportation infrastructure in the 19th and 20th century brought fresh lobster to distant urban areas, and its reputation as a delicacy grew.

Lobsters lay eggs

A freshly laid lobster egg is the size of the head of a pin. A 1-pound female lobster usually carries approximately 8,000 eggs. A 9-pound female may carry more than 100,000 eggs. The female lobster carries the eggs inside for 9 to 12 months and then for another 9 to 12 months externally attached to the swimmerets under her tail. When the eggs hatch, the larvae will float near the surface for 4 to 6 weeks.
The few that survive will settle to the bottom and continue to develop as baby lobsters. From every 50,000 eggs only 2 lobsters are expected to survive to legal size.

Lobsters are nutritious

Nova Scotia lobster contains less saturated fat, calories, and cholesterol than beef, pork, or even the white meat of chicken. 100 grams of lobster (minus the butter!) only contains 90 calories!

No pain!

The Atlantic Lobster does not feel pain when he immersed into hot water due to its decentralized nervous system (it has no brain, just a series of ganglia). Consequently, The Nova Scotia Lobster does not have any vocal cords and contrary to rumor it does not scream. The sound we hear when boiling lobster is only the steam escaping from the shell.