American Lobster

The American lobster is a large marine crustacean found along the Atlantic coast of North America, from Labrador in Canada to North Carolina in the United States, most abundant and commercially significant in the cold waters off Maine and Atlantic Canada. It has a hard, greenish-brown to bluish shell that it periodically molts and sheds as it grows throughout its life, along with one larger, blunt crusher claw and one narrower, sharper cutter claw, used respectively for crushing shellfish and tearing softer prey. American lobsters are bottom-dwelling scavengers and predators, feeding on fish, mollusks, other crustaceans and dead organic matter, and they can live for many decades, with the largest recorded individuals believed to be well over a century old and weighing over twenty kilograms. The species supports one of the most valuable single-species fisheries in North America, particularly in New England and the Canadian Maritimes, where lobster fishing is central to the regional economy and culture.