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''Homarus gammarus'', known as the European lobster or common lobster, is a species of clawed lobster from the eastern Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and parts of the Black Sea. It is closely related to the
American lobster The American lobster (''Homarus americanus'') is a species of lobster found on the Atlantic coast of North America, chiefly from Labrador to New Jersey. It is also known as Atlantic lobster, Canadian lobster, true lobster, northern lobster, Cana ...
, ''H. americanus''. It may grow to a length of and a mass of , and bears a conspicuous pair of
claw A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or Arthrop ...
s. In life the lobsters are blue, only becoming "lobster red" on cooking. Mating occurs in the summer, producing
eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
which are carried by the females for up to a year before hatching into planktonic
larvae A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...
. ''Homarus gammarus'' is a highly esteemed food, and is widely
caught Caught is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket. A batsman is out caught if the batsman hits the ball, from a legitimate delivery, with the bat, and the ball is caught by the bowler or a fielder before it hits the ground. If the ball h ...
using lobster pots, mostly around the
British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
.


Description

''Homarus gammarus'' is a large
crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...
, with a body length up to and weighing up to , although the lobsters caught in lobster pots are usually long and weigh . Like other crustaceans, lobsters have a hard exoskeleton which they must shed in order to grow, in a process called ecdysis (molting). This may occur several times a year for young lobsters, but decreases to once every 1–2 years for larger animals. The first pair of
pereiopod The decapod (crustaceans such as a crab, lobster, shrimp or prawn) is made up of 20 body segments grouped into two main body parts: the cephalothorax and the pleon (abdomen). Each segment may possess one pair of appendages, although in various ...
s is armed with a large, asymmetrical pair of
feet The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...
. The larger one is the "crusher", and has rounded nodules used for crushing prey; the other is the "cutter", which has sharp inner edges, and is used for holding or tearing the prey. Usually, the left claw is the crusher, and the right is the cutter. The exoskeleton is generally blue above, with spots that coalesce, and yellow below. The red colour associated with lobsters only appears after cooking. This occurs because, in life, the red pigment astaxanthin is bound to a
protein complex A protein complex or multiprotein complex is a group of two or more associated polypeptide chains. Protein complexes are distinct from multienzyme complexes, in which multiple catalytic domains are found in a single polypeptide chain. Protein ...
, but the complex is broken up by the heat of cooking, releasing the red pigment. The closest relative of ''H. gammarus'' is the
American lobster The American lobster (''Homarus americanus'') is a species of lobster found on the Atlantic coast of North America, chiefly from Labrador to New Jersey. It is also known as Atlantic lobster, Canadian lobster, true lobster, northern lobster, Cana ...
, ''Homarus americanus''. The two species are very similar, and can be crossed artificially, although hybrids are unlikely to occur in the wild since their ranges do not overlap. The two species can be distinguished by a number of characteristics: *The
rostrum Rostrum may refer to: * Any kind of a platform for a speaker: **dais **pulpit * Rostrum (anatomy), a beak, or anatomical structure resembling a beak, as in the mouthparts of many sucking insects * Rostrum (ship), a form of bow on naval ships * R ...
of ''H. americanus'' bears one or more spines on the underside, which are lacking in ''H. gammarus''. *The spines on the claws of ''H. americanus'' are red or red-tipped, while those of ''H. gammarus'' are white or white-tipped. *The underside of the claw of ''H. americanus'' is orange or red, while that of ''H. gammarus'' is creamy white or very pale red.


Life cycle

Female ''H. gammarus'' reach
sexual maturity Sexual maturity is the capability of an organism to reproduce. In humans it might be considered synonymous with adulthood, but here puberty is the name for the process of biological sexual maturation, while adulthood is based on cultural definitio ...
when they have grown to a carapace length of , whereas males mature at a slightly smaller size. Mating typically occurs in summer between a recently moulted female, whose shell is therefore soft, and a hard-shelled male. The female carries the
eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
attached to her pleopods for up to 12 months, depending on the temperature. Females carrying eggs are said to be "berried" and can be found throughout the year. The eggs hatch at night, and the
larvae A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...
swim to the water surface where they drift with the ocean currents, preying on
zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...
. This stage involves three moults and lasts for 15–35 days. After the third moult, the juvenile takes on a form closer to the adult, and adopts a benthic lifestyle. The juveniles are rarely seen in the wild, and are poorly known, although they are known to be capable of digging extensive
burrow An Eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of s ...
s. It is estimated that only 1 larva in every 20,000 survives to the benthic phase. When they reach a carapace length of , the juveniles leave their burrows and start their adult lives.


Distribution

''Homarus gammarus'' is found across the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean from northern Norway to the
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
and Morocco, not including the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
. It is also present in most of the Mediterranean Sea, only missing from the section east of
Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...
, and along only the south-west coast of the Black Sea. The northernmost populations are found in the Norwegian
fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icel ...
s
Tysfjorden or or Storrusten, Erling. 1998. ''Hurtigruten: The World's Most Beautiful Sea Voyage''. Narvik: Ofotens og Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab, p. 69. is a fjord in Nordland county, Norway. The fjord is the border between Narvik Municipality and Hamar ...
and
Nordfolda The Folda or Folla is a fjord in Nordland county, Norway. The fjord is located in the municipalities of Bodø, Steigen, and Sørfold. The Folda empties into the Vestfjorden about northeast of the town of Bodø. The fjord is about wide in t ...
, inside the
Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at wh ...
. The species can be divided into four
genetically Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar working ...
distinct populations, one widespread population, and three which have diverged due to small
effective population size The effective population size (''N'e'') is a number that, in some simplified scenarios, corresponds to the number of breeding individuals in the population. More generally, ''N'e'' is the number of individuals that an idealised population w ...
s, possibly due to
adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
to the local environment. The first of these is the population of lobsters from northern Norway, which have been referred to as the "midnight-sun lobster". The populations in the Mediterranean Sea are distinct from those in the Atlantic Ocean. The last distinct population is found in part of the Netherlands: samples from the
Oosterschelde The Eastern Scheldt ( nl, Oosterschelde) is a former estuary in the province of Zeeland, Netherlands, between Schouwen-Duiveland and Tholen on the north and Noord-Beveland and Zuid-Beveland on the south. It also features the largest nati ...
were distinct from those collected in the North Sea or English Channel. Attempts have been made to introduce ''H. gammarus'' to New Zealand, alongside other European species such as the edible crab, ''
Cancer pagurus ''Cancer pagurus'', commonly known as the edible crab or brown crab, is a species of crab found in the North Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, and perhaps the Mediterranean Sea. It is a robust crab of a reddish-brown colour, having an oval carapace with ...
''. Between 1904 and 1914, one million lobster
larvae A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...
were released from
hatcheries A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled co ...
in Dunedin, but the species did not become established there.


Ecology

Adult ''H. gammarus'' live on the continental shelf at depths of , although not normally deeper than . They prefer hard substrates, such as rocks or hard mud, and live in holes or crevices, emerging at night to feed. The diet of ''H. gammarus'' mostly consists of other benthic invertebrates. These include
crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...
s,
molluscs Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estim ...
, sea urchins,
starfish Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or basket stars. Starfish ...
and
polychaete worms Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are ma ...
. The three clawed lobster species ''Homarus gammarus'', '' H. americanus'' and ''
Nephrops norvegicus ''Nephrops norvegicus'', known variously as the Norway lobster, Dublin Bay prawn, ' (compare langostino) or '' scampi'', is a slim, orange-pink lobster which grows up to long, and is "the most important commercial crustacean in Europe". It is ...
'' are hosts to the three known species of the animal phylum Cycliophora; the species on ''H. gammarus'' has not been described. ''Homarus gammarus'' is susceptible to the disease
gaffkaemia Gaffkaemia (gaffkemia in American English) is a bacterial disease of lobsters, caused by the Gram-positive lactic acid bacterium ''Aerococcus viridans'' var. ''homari''. Discovery Gaffkaemia was first discovered in 1947 in American lobsters (''H ...
, caused by the
bacterium Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...
''
Aerococcus viridans ''Aerococcus viridans'' is a member of the bacterial genus ''Aerococcus''. It is a causative agent of gaffkaemia, a disease of lobster Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies wi ...
''. Although it is frequently found in
American lobster The American lobster (''Homarus americanus'') is a species of lobster found on the Atlantic coast of North America, chiefly from Labrador to New Jersey. It is also known as Atlantic lobster, Canadian lobster, true lobster, northern lobster, Cana ...
s, the disease has only been seen in captive ''H. gammarus'', where prior occupation of the tanks by ''H. americanus'' could not be ruled out.


Human consumption

''Homarus gammarus'' is traditionally "highly esteemed" as a foodstuff and was mentioned in "
The Crabfish "The Crabfish" is a ribald humorous folk song of the English oral tradition. It dates back to the seventeenth century, appearing in Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript as a song named "The Sea Crabb" based on an earlier tale. The moral of the story i ...
" a seventeenth century English
folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
. It may fetch very high prices and may be sold fresh, frozen, canned or powdered. Both the claws and the abdomen of ''H. gammarus'' contain "excellent"
white meat In culinary terms, white meat is meat which is pale in color before and after cooking. In traditional gastronomy, ''white meat'' also includes rabbit, the flesh of milk-fed young mammals (in particular veal and lamb), and sometimes pork. In eco ...
, and most of the contents of the
cephalothorax The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...
are edible. The exceptions are the gastric mill and the "sand vein" ( gut). The price of ''H. gammarus'' is up to three times higher than that of ''H. americanus'', and the European species is considered to be more flavored. Lobsters are mostly fished using lobster pots, although lines baited with
octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlef ...
or
cuttlefish Cuttlefish or cuttles are marine molluscs of the order Sepiida. They belong to the class Cephalopoda which also includes squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish have a unique internal shell, the cuttlebone, which is used for control o ...
sometimes succeed in tempting them out, to allow them to be caught in a net or by hand. In 2008, 4,386 t of ''H. gammarus'' were caught across Europe and North Africa, of which 3,462 t (79%) was caught in the
British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
(including the
Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey ...
). The
minimum landing size The minimum landing size (MLS) is the smallest fish measurement at which it is legal to keep or sell a fish. The MLS depends on the species of fish. Sizes also vary around the world, as they are legal definitions which are defined by the local regu ...
for ''H. gammarus'' is a carapace length of . To protect known breeding females, lobsters caught carrying eggs are to be notched on a uropod, the inner tail flap of female lobsters of reproductive size (usually above the minimum landing size 87mm carapace length). Following this, it is illegal for the female to be kept or sold, and is commonly referred to as a "v-notch". This notch remains for three molts of the lobster exoskeleton, providing harvest protection and continued breeding availability for 3–5 years.
Aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
systems for ''H. gammarus'' are under development, and production rates are still very low.


Taxonomic history

''Homarus gammarus'' was first given a
binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
by Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his '' Systema Naturae'', published in 1758. That name was ''Cancer gammarus'', since Linnaeus' concept of the genus '' Cancer'' at that time included all large crustaceans. ''H. gammarus'' is the type species of the genus ''
Homarus ''Homarus'' is a genus of lobsters, which include the common and commercially significant species ''Homarus americanus'' (the American lobster) and ''Homarus gammarus'' (the European lobster). The Cape lobster, which was formerly in this genus ...
'' Weber, 1795, as determined by Direction 51 of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Prior to that direction, confusion arose because the species had been referred to by several different names, including ''Astacus marinus'' Fabricius, 1775 and ''Homarus vulgaris'' H. Milne-Edwards, 1837, and also because Friedrich Weber's description of the genus had been overlooked until rediscovered by Mary J. Rathbun, rendering any prior assignments of type species (for ''Homarus'' H. Milne-Edwards, 1837) invalid for ''Homarus'' Weber, 1795. The
type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...
of ''Homarus gammarus'' was a
lectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...
selected by Lipke Holthuis in 1974. It came from , near
Marstrand Marstrand () is a seaside locality situated in Kungälv Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 1,320 inhabitants in 2010. The town got its name from its location on the island of Marstrand. Despite its small population, for histo ...
, Sweden ( northwest of Gothenburg), but both it and the paralectotypes have since been lost. The
common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...
for ''H. gammarus'' preferred by the Food and Agriculture Organization is "European lobster", but the species is also widely known as the "common lobster".


References


External links

* * {{Authority control Crustaceans described in 1758 Commercial crustaceans Crustaceans of the Atlantic Ocean Edible crustaceans Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus True lobsters