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Lobster Facts & Worksheets

Lobsters are large marine crustaceans in the family Nephropidae or Homaridae. They have stalked eyes, long bodies with five pairs of jointed legs, and a muscular tail.

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Lobsters are large marine crustaceans in the family Nephropidae or Homaridae. They have stalked eyes, long bodies with five pairs of jointed legs, and a muscular tail. More than just providing for their own survival, development, maintenance, and reproduction, lobsters also play an important role in the ecosystem as part of the food chain.

See the fact file below for more information on the lobster or alternatively, you can download our 20-page Lobster worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

DESCRIPTION AND ECOLOGY

  • As invertebrates, lobsters have a tough exoskeleton that protects them. Just like any other arthropod, these sea creatures molt in order to grow, making them vulnerable during this stage of their life. During this process, a number of lobster species may alter colors.
  • Lobsters inhabit rocky, sandy, or muddy bottoms from the shoreline to the edge of the continental shelf. They primarily reside in cracks or in burrows under rocks.
  • Lobsters usually feed on live food, which consists of fish, mollusks, other crustaceans, worms, and some plant life. There are some instances when these creatures will scavenge and even resort to cannibalism once in captivity. However, this has not been witnessed in the wild.
  • Lobster skin has been found before in the bellies of lobsters, although this happens naturally, since they eat their shed skin after the molting process.
  • A lobster’s growth never stops, and it is normal for a lobster to live for more than a century. They can even reach massive sizes. According to the Guinness World Records, the largest lobster recorded was found in Nova Scotia, Canada, and weighed 44.4 pounds.
  • As arthropods, lobsters are extremely bilaterally symmetrical. Clawed lobsters often have unequal, specialized claws called chelae, just like those of the king crab. A freshly caught lobster will possess a full and fleshy claw.
  • Lobsters have a cephalothorax, wherein the head is joined with the thorax, both of which are covered by a chitinous carapace.
  • The other major body segment is the abdomen. Their head has antennae; antennules; mandibles; the first and second maxillae; and the first, second, and third maxillipeds.
  • Since it prefers to stay in a murky environment at the great depths of the ocean, it is ill-visioned and usually uses its antennae as sensors. Research shows that the lobster’s eye is constructed with a reflective structure mounted on a convex retina.
  • Generally, lobsters move slowly by walking on the bottom of the sea floor. However, when they sense nearby danger and feel the need to flee, they swim to the opposite direction quickly by curling and uncurling their abdomen.

FOOD HISTORY

  • Lobsters have traditionally been a food item, also acting as bait to catch fish before the end of the 19th century. Today, the lobster’s popularity and value limit its commercial use to serving as a cuisine.
  • The European wild lobster is more expensive and rare than the Canadian lobster and was always served to royal and aristocratic families of France and the Netherlands. These scenarios were illustrated in Dutch paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries.
  • In North America, before the 20th century, local lobster was not a famous delicacy. In the Maritimes, eating lobster was viewed as a sign of poverty. In some regions of the Maritime provinces of Canada, lobster was utilized as a fertilizer for farmers’ fields, and a number of lobsters were fed to slaves or the lower tiers of society. Outside of the rural outports, lobsters were bought in cans, losing much of its flavor, which can be hidden if the lobster is dipped in butter.
  • The development of the transportation industry led to the exportation of live lobsters from the outports to large urban centers. Fresh lobsters instantly became a luxury cuisine and a tourist attraction for the Maritimes and Maine and were shipped to Europe and Japan, where they have been especially expensive.
  • The hype of eating lobster has pushed the market industry to sell “faux lobster” made from fish that has been altered to look and taste like lobster. A few restaurants have also sold “langostino lobster”, which translate to prawn, although the actual creature is more likely a crab.
  • The traditional way of catching lobsters uses baited, one-way traps found deep underwater with a coded marker buoy at the surface so that fishermen can easily spot their cages and not pull up other’s traps.

GASTRONOMY

  • Lobsters are best eaten fresh, and they are usually bought alive since bacteria can instantly multiply in a dead lobster. Some people also believe that lobsters “must be purchased the day they’re to be cooked” and either “cooked live or killed immediately prior to cooking”.
  • They are exported and sold with their claws wrapped to avoid injuring each other or the buyer. Lobsters are unable to open and close their claws when they are banded, which reduces its size inside the shell. Extremely fresh lobsters will not exhibit this atrophy process, and their claws will still be in full shape. A number of restaurants that serve these sea creatures keep a tank to house lobsters, often letting customers pick their own lobster.
  • If the lobster is to be boiled or steamed, most chefs directly put the live lobster inside a pot. If it is to be fried, grilled, or baked, it is advised not to boil them before further cooking. Frozen lobsters have tough meat. When boiling them, it is best to simmer the creature for five minutes for the first round and three minutes for each additional round.
  • Their shells cause some people to consume them slowly, especially first timers. It is possible to shell a lobster by hand, carefully avoiding its sharp points. Their tail can be snapped open by squeezing its sides inward, then pulling the edges of their shell, positioning the thumbs on the dorsal side and grabbing the sides apart. The claws normally open by hyper-extending the creature’s “thumb” and then pulling it out. Sometimes, the claws can be cracked open by simply applying pressure to them. Otherwise, an ordinary fork can also be used to snap open their sides.
  • The majority of the lobster’s meat can be found in its tail and two front claws, but smaller amounts can also be pulled out from the legs and torso. The larger the lobster, the greater quantities of meat in the small legs and body can be acquired.

Lobster Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the lobster across 20 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Lobster worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the lobsters which are large marine crustaceans in the family Nephropidae or Homaridae. They have stalked eyes, long bodies with five pairs of jointed legs, and a muscular tail. More than just providing for their own survival, development, maintenance, and reproduction, lobsters also play an important role in the ecosystem as part of the food chain.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Lobster Facts
  • Hello, Lobster
  • Label A Lobster
  • Lobster Lingo
  • Just Lobster Stuff
  • Life Of A Lobster
  • Two Lookalikes
  • Lobster Family
  • Fascinating Facts
  • Lobster Recipe
  • Lobsters and Humans

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Link will appear as Lobster Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, December 4, 2020

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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