Lobsters are a favorite seafood of North Americans. Lobster hunters trap lobsters in cagelike traps and send them to market where they are sold as food.

Crustaceans:

Crustaceans are a group of animals whose skeletons are on the outside of their bodies. There are about 31,000 species of crustraceans, including barnacles, crabs, lobsters, and shrimps. They live in saltwater and breathe through gills. They have many pairs of legs.

Their bodies are jointed, like your elbow. Crustaceans use feelers for touching, feeling and smelling. We'll be studying lobsters this week.

Anatomy:

Lobsters have shiny, greenish-black shells with orange trim. On the front of their heads, they have a pair of antennae and two eyes on the ends of stalks. They have 5 pair of legs, the front two often have big claws. They have 10 very small swimmerets under their abdomen, and a tail fan.

Moving About:

Lobsters usually travel at night by walking or swimming. They say hidden most of the day.

Diet:

Lobsters are scavengers and will feed on the bodies of dead animals. They catch fish, snails, starfish, clams maringe worms and other lobsters. They will also eat plants.

Reproduction:

As lobsters grow, they shed their shells and grow new, larger ones. During this stage, females mate. They lay between 5,000 and 100,000 eggs. She carries the sticky eggs on her body for about 11 months, when they hatch.

Defending Themselves:

When lobsters are young, in its larva stage, they are easy prey.

As an adult, they are usually the predators.