Marine invertebrates
CITE
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Lobsters. (2022). In Q-files Encyclopedia, Life, Marine invertebrates. Retrieved from
https://www.q-files.com/life/marine-invertebrates/lobsters
"Lobsters." Life, Marine invertebrates, Q-files Encyclopedia, 10 Feb. 2022.
https://www.q-files.com/life/marine-invertebrates/lobsters.
Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.
Lobsters 2022. Life, Marine invertebrates. Retrieved 19 March 2024, from
https://www.q-files.com/life/marine-invertebrates/lobsters
Life, Marine invertebrates, s.v. "Lobsters," accessed March 19, 2024.
https://www.q-files.com/life/marine-invertebrates/lobsters
Lobsters
Lobsters are crustaceans with long bodies covered in a hard shell, and five pairs of legs. There are two kinds: clawed lobsters and spiny lobsters. Clawed lobsters are generally found in cold waters. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, with the first pair much larger than the others. Spiny lobsters do not have claws, but have long, strong antennae. They live in warm waters. Lobsters crawl on the seabed in shallow water, feeding on starfish, sea urchins, molluscs and crabs. They often hide in caves and crevices.
Shell and claws
A lobster's shell, its exoskeleton, cannot grow. When the lobster grows too big for it, the old shell is shed (moulted) and a new one hardens in place. While its body is still soft, the lobster is vulnerable to attack from predators, so the lobster retreats to a hiding place. It can take a few months for its new shell to harden.
Lobsters use their claws to grab fish and shrimps and to dig for clams and urchins. Their larger claw is used for gripping and crushing prey. The other claw acts like a pair of scissors, to cut the prey into pieces.
Spiny lobsters
Spiny lobsters can be distinguished from clawed lobsters by their long, thick, spiny antennae and by the lack of claws on their legs. They live in crevices of rocks and coral reefs, venturing out at night to search for sea snails, clams, crabs, sea urchins or dead creatures to eat.
Spiny lobsters are known as crayfish or crawfish in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa (not to be confused with their distant relatives freshwater crayfish, also types of crustacean).
Migration
Spiny lobsters sometimes migrate in groups of 50 or more individuals across the ocean floor to deeper waters, perhaps to avoid the effects of storms in the shallow waters where they live. They creep along in long files across the seabed, each keeping in contact with the other through touching with their long antennae. They navigate by using both their strong senses of smell and taste, and their ability to detect the Earth's magnetic field.
The lobsters deter predators—fish, octopuses and sea otters—by rubbing their antennae against their shells, producing loud, rasping sounds.
Consultant: Chris Jarvis