Along the East Coast of North America, from North Carolina to Labrador.

HABITS:

American lobsters are bottom dwellers that eat seaweed, clams, snails, scallops, starfish, and fish. Young lobsters pass through several molts and after a short drifting period take up a bottom dwelling existence. Prior to reproduction in summer there is a "courting dance" followed by copulation.

SPAWNING:

A female may produce 3000-100,000 eggs. The male leaves sperm that can be stored by the female for up to a year. Fertilization takes place when eggs are extruded. Larvae are planktonic until their fourth molt when they become benthic.

GROWTH:

The American lobster takes about five years before they reach market size (300-500g). This could be problematic since it takes six years for them to reach sexual maturity. American lobsters can reach weights of 19 kg and live 50 to 100 years.

USES:

Lobster meat, particularly tail meat is a desirable and popular seafood item.

CULTURE:

The culturist can bring in berried (egg-carrying) females or use mated females that have not extruded their eggs allow mating to occur in the laboratory or carry out artificial fertilization (using mild electric current). Females spawn and mate on alternate years. Larvae are planktonic and cannibalistic and are generally kept in moving water in conical bottomed tanks being fed to satiation. The length of larval stages is related to photoperiod. When larvae go benthic they are transferred to individual compartments for growout. Juveniles and adults grow best on live prey items. No commercial mass culture facility currently exists for lobster rearing, though designs have been proposed. High feed costs and slow growth are deterrents.

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