Giant Lobster at Mousehole

A local lobsterman has caught quite a hefty lobster in one of his pots. A publican is there to help carry the lobster on a silver salver. Lobsters are a high value fishery and much prized for their sweet white meat. The lobster weighed nine and a half pounds or almost five kilos. There are several species of lobster which possess unequal specialised claws which can grow to a very large size but in UK coastal waters the European or common lobster is prevalent.

A decline in stocks led to an increase in the minimum landing size for lobster and to the opening of a lobster hatchery in Padstow in the 1990s. Through research the hatchery has helped develop scientific understanding of lobster behaviours and breeding and hatchlings are released back into the sea to replenish stocks. Berried females carry eggs for up to a year and if caught by lobstermen have to be returned to the sea. Live lobsters are blue only turning red when cooked. To grow, lobsters go through the process of ecdysis or moulting where the shell is shed including the outer of the asymmetrical pair of claws with the left claw being the larger crusher claw and the right, the cutter claw.