Speaking of lobster, the first thing you think of is the plate of "crayfish" that is cooked red and spicy in the summer night market? Strictly speaking, "crayfish" are imposters, most of them live in ponds and ditches, and are a freshwater animal. However, in the sea, there is really a mighty and majestic type of shrimp named "dragon", and they are the real owners of the name "lobster".
Lobsters don't have "big pliers"
In some high-end hotels or seafood markets, you can see some prawns that are 20 to 30 centimeters long and weigh 0.5 kilograms. Compared to crayfish, they are behemoths. They come in a variety of colors, including reddish brown, sky blue, blue brown... In addition to this, their bodies are dotted with colorful patches and protrusions. This kind of shrimp is the real lobster.
How come these genuine lobsters don't have "big pliers"? In fact, "lobster" is a very vague name, not referring to a single animal, but a collective name for a variety of larger shrimp. If you count, there are hundreds of species of animals known as "lobsters" around the world! From a zoological point of view, lobsters belong to the arthropod phylum, soft-beetles, decapods, claw-free order, lobster family, a total of about 20 species, the more common ones are splendid lobster, Japanese lobster, Australian rock lobster and so on. Their common features are thick, prickly body surface, and well-developed antennae, but the only thing they lack is "big pliers", that is, "big claws", from which the name "no claws" comes from.
Not a lobster "lobster"
So, where are those "lobsters" with large claws? They come from a distant relative of lobsters, the lower family of crayfish. As the name suggests, the members of the order Crawfish have large claws like pincers. The large crawfish actually evolved from the first pair of feet, so members of the order Crawfish are also known as "crawfish".
According to the size and living environment, the crawfish are divided into two major groups. "Crayfish" is a small crawfish that lives in fresh water, and its big name is "Protocrayfish". There are also "Big Macs" in crawfish, such as the Boston lobster, which is often called the Boston lobster, whose name is "American crayfish", which is a large sea crawfish that lives off the coast of North America. Large, wide, flat and powerful pliers are their signature feature.
A cave dweller in the oceanic tropics
Unlike crayfish, which prefer fresh water or Boston lobsters, which prefer cool seawater, lobsters favor warm waters. Reef areas in subtropical waters and coral reef areas in tropical seas are their favorite environments. Lobsters are burrowing animals. During the day, they hide in the hole, sticking long tentacles out of the hole, sensing their surroundings, and violently waving their tentacles to resist enemies as soon as they encounter an enemy trying to invade. At night, they climb out of their burrows and forage on the seabed. Worms, molluscs, sea cucumbers and even the remains of some marine animals are all lobster meals.
Lobsters like to live alone, but if there are too few hiding places, they will also "make it up" and squeeze together. Despite the crowding, the lobster will still use the first pair of antennae to control the distance from other individuals, achieving the purpose of peaceful coexistence. Lobsters can also sense each other's health, and if one lobster is sick, other lobsters will "isolate" it to prevent the spread of the disease.
Lobster fire truck
Although they are cavemen, lobsters are not "home". Every year, many lobsters make a long migration, either to get to areas where sea temperatures and salinity are more favorable, or to breed.
The migration itself is boring, but the lobsters come out of the "sense of ceremony". When migrating, a dozen or even dozens of lobsters often move together. They are lined up in a row, and the tentacles of the latter lobster rest on the tail of the previous lobster, forming a train-like procession, which is the famous "lobster train". This migration is a perfect demonstration of "unity is strength" – the ability to resist predators.
At the bottom of the pitch-black sea, how does the lobster know if he's going in the right direction? Scientists have found through experiments that lobsters can sense the earth's magnetic field and use this as the basis for determining the direction. As for how lobsters use "geomagnetic navigation", there is still no conclusion.
Legend for a lifetime
Lobsters can live longer than 30 years and are considered a long-lived species among shrimps. However, not all lobsters can grow up smoothly, and growing from an egg to a lobster has to pass several tests. After spawning, the female shrimp is not released into the seawater, but adheres to the tail, more precisely, the lower abdomen. Female shrimp carry these eggs for months, waiting to hatch. The newly hatched larvae do not look like "dragons" at all, but more like some kind of water fleas. Individuals of this period are called "flea larvae", and after molting, they become "big-eyed larvae" with a pair of large eyes. In both stages, lobster larvae float in the sea, feeding on algae and organic detritus. After many molts, the larvae gradually take on the appearance of a lobster, with long, powerful antennae and crawling feet. At this time, they will climb to the seabed, look for stone crevices, caves, and live a life of day and night, until they grow into mighty adult lobsters.
At present, a mature artificial lobster system has not yet been formed. The vast majority of lobsters on the market are wild. Growing into a lobster weighing more than 500 grams often takes more than 3 years. Growing lobster catches threaten the survival of many lobster species. After reading this article, the next time you face lobsters in restaurants or seafood markets, you may wish to think about them, do you want to eat them?
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