Maine Lobster
A Little Bit More About The Maine Lobster
The Maine Lobster is one of the most popular and therefore well known lobsters in North America. However, its not the only lobster. Lobsters can be broken down into two categories; Clawed Lobster and Spiny Lobster (Rock Lobster).
When most people think of lobster they think of Maine Lobster because this lobster can be found in thousands of restaurants and supermarkets all over the country. The Maine Lobster falls in the Clawed Lobster category. Because of the claws it has more meat than the Spiny Lobster and thus they are most commonly sold live.
The Maine Lobster can be found in cold, shallow waters as far north as New Foundland and as far south as North Carolina. Further south you will begin to find the Spiny Lobster, also known as the Rock Lobster. The Spiny Lobster doesn’t have claws like the Maine Lobster. Instead, they have antennae, which fishermen calls ‘whips’, that can reach out about the length of their body.
The technical name for a Maine Lobster is Homarus Americanus. True lobsters fall into this Homarus genus. You can recognize this ‘true’ lobster by their 5 sets of legs, including a pair of large, meat filled claws.
There are only two true species of Homarus. The Maine Lobster found on the northeast coast of the United States and the European Lobster found along the western European coast.
Here is a image of a ‘true’ lobster the Homarus:
True Maine Lobster
Some common questions about the Maine Lobster:
Q: How large can a Maine Lobster get?
A: The largest lobster on record is 43 pounds. They were said to grow up to 5 feet or about 150 years old back in the colonial times before the lobster industry began in the 1800’s.
Q: What do Maine Lobster eat?
A: They eat at night and fee upon mussels, clams, urchins and flounder. A common misconception is that they are just scavengers and only eat dead fish and rotten waste.