Lobster Information
The clear waters of North Western Europe and Eastern Canada provide the perfect habitat for these amazing wild creatures. Lobsters have a curious history. In London they were deemed to be a delicacy, with the poet Alexander Pope fondly talking about ‘Luxurious lobster-nights’ in 1715. They were used as a cheap source of protein in America, where they would be regularly washed up on the beaches and were even being used as a form of fertiliser.
The cold waters that these animals inhabit, results in a relatively slow growth rate in comparison to warmer water lobsters. While this factor has an impact on the potential to commercially farm these crustaceans, it does contribute to the sweet flavour and firm texture of the meat, resulting in these lobsters having the reputation as being the best in the world. A small lobster weighing 500g can take between 4-6 years to reach that size and will have moulted countless times to increase their body mass. The moulting process occurs frequently when the lobsters are small, several times in the first year, decreasing in frequency as the animal increases in size. However a number of years may pass between the moults of a large lobster. During this process the lobster completely removes itself from its shell through the gap between the tail and head section, leaving it very weak and vulnerable, the flesh having a texture like firm jelly. The lobster’s flesh then swells with fluids, while it hides from predators as the new shell hardens up over about a month and their total body weight increases by approximately 50% at each moult.
Lobster catches on both sides of the Atlantic have fluctuated only slightly over the past century, and the stocks are now much better managed. A number of hatcheries around the UK are restocking the local lobster populations and fishermen are becoming more and more aware of the dire implications that catching undersized and berried (lobsters with eggs attached) lobsters has on the future of the industry.
The cold waters that these animals inhabit, results in a relatively slow growth rate in comparison to warmer water lobsters. While this factor has an impact on the potential to commercially farm these crustaceans, it does contribute to the sweet flavour and firm texture of the meat, resulting in these lobsters having the reputation as being the best in the world. A small lobster weighing 500g can take between 4-6 years to reach that size and will have moulted countless times to increase their body mass. The moulting process occurs frequently when the lobsters are small, several times in the first year, decreasing in frequency as the animal increases in size. However a number of years may pass between the moults of a large lobster. During this process the lobster completely removes itself from its shell through the gap between the tail and head section, leaving it very weak and vulnerable, the flesh having a texture like firm jelly. The lobster’s flesh then swells with fluids, while it hides from predators as the new shell hardens up over about a month and their total body weight increases by approximately 50% at each moult.
Lobster catches on both sides of the Atlantic have fluctuated only slightly over the past century, and the stocks are now much better managed. A number of hatcheries around the UK are restocking the local lobster populations and fishermen are becoming more and more aware of the dire implications that catching undersized and berried (lobsters with eggs attached) lobsters has on the future of the industry.
| Nutrients | Per 100g |
| Energy (kcal) | 103.0 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 0 g |
| Fat | 1.6 g |
| Protein | 22.1 g |
| Selenium | 54.0 ug |
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