Lobsters Use Complicated Signals To Establish Social Relationships (Video)

National Lobster Day is observed each year on September 25th.

The simplest way to enjoy Lobster is boiled and then dipped in melted butter.  A couple of favorite lobster recipes include Lobster Newberg and Lobster Thermidor.  It is also the main ingredient in soup, bisque, lobster rolls and salads.

• According to the Guinness World Records, the largest lobster ever caught was in Nova Scotia, Canada, weighing 44.4 lbs. 
• In Colonial times, servants and slaves were the only people allowed to eat lobsters regularly.
• Lobsters aren’t all red. They can be many different colors, including bright blue, white, and brilliant gold tones.
• Lobsters can be right-handed, left-handed, or ambidextrous.
• Many lobster species can live to be over 100 years old.
• Most lobsters travel over 100 miles a year and have migratory patterns
• Like dolphins, lobsters use complicated signals to establish social relationships. They sometimes walk hand-in-hand, the old leading the young.
• To escape from enemies, lobsters swim backward by flipping their tails.
• Former President and First Lady George and Barbara Bush loved to eat lobster served up fresh at Mable’s restaurant in Kennebunkport, Maine.
• If you hold the butter, lobsters aren’t fattening. Three and a half ounces only have 96 calories and about two grams of fat.
• A lobster will, quite literally, drown in fresh water.
• Each year nearly $300 million worth of lobster is harvested in the U.S.
•  Lobsters don’t scream when you cook them – they don’t have lungs or vocal cords. According to Robert C. Bayer, executive director of The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine, the noise people hear is the air that has been trapped in the stomach and forced through the mouth after being out of water for short periods of time.
• Lobsters Pee Out of Their Faces. A lobster pees from openings (nephrophores) located at the base of its second antennae.
• Male lobsters love to fight. Female lobsters seek out the most aggressive, dominant male in the area and show their interest by peeing repeatedly into his shelter. Their urine contains pheromones, which calm him down and get him in the mood, so to speak. Lobsters also urinate in each others’ faces during fights to express themselves.
• They eat each other. “They’re looking for fresh food and what’s around, and if that happens to be another lobster, then it’s dinner,”
• Females are players—and they make the first move. Not much courtship precedes lobster love-making.
• One of their claws can exert pressure of up to 100 pounds per square inch.
• Their shells were once used to make golf balls. a University of Maine professor created golf balls with a core made out of lobster shells. They’re also biodegradable, designed for golfing on cruise ships or courses near oceans and lakes.
• Lobsters Can Regenerate Their Limbs

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Foodimentary

Vegan Piece

Woodmans

Catalina Offshore Op

How Stuff Works

Time