Lobster
Scientific name: Homarus gammarus
Lobsters are believed to have evolved around 250 million years ago.
Conservation status
Lobsters are crustaceans which are not endangered - but are vulnerable to local overexploitation.
The MCS recently updated their ratings on their Good Fish Guide to reflect the ‘continued and increasing threat to crab and lobster populations’. Fishing involves the use of pots, traps, and creels – which can be sustainable as young and breeding lobsters needn’t be landed. However, there need to be limits set on the number of pots a boat can carry, and the number of lobsters caught (boats may carry 100s of pots at a time). The MCS call for regular stock assessments, management controls which are responsive to population changes, and capture methods that minimise damage to habitats and vulnerable species.
Common lobsters are blue with two red antennae, a long body and two pincers – one to crush and one to tear. They can reach up to 60 cm in length. They eat molluscs, sea urchins, and other smaller crustaceans.
Lobsters can be found in all the seas around Britain. They live in crevices, burrows, and gaps between rocks below low tide and up to 60m below water. Lobsters hide in the day and feed at night. Female lobsters carry fertilised eggs for up to 12 months before they hatch (these look like minute jelly balls on the mother’s legs and there are 1000s of them). A lobster grows by shedding or moulting its hard exoskeleton. Whilst this is happening the lobster can also grow back lost limbs. Lobsters have typically long lives (some species up to 100 years) and continue growing and reproducing into old age.
Lobsters are a popular delicacy and lobster fishing is an important economic activity for coastal communities. In some countries it is illegal to boil live lobsters as it causes them excruciating pain. Lobsters often feature in art and literature (the lobster quadrille in Alice in Wonderland and Salvador Dali’s lobster telephone, for example). Finally, Bridlington is the lobster capital of Europe.
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/marine/crustaceans/lobster
https://www.mcsuk.org/news/uk-crab-and-lobster-populations-in-decline/