LOBSTER, CRAB, AND SHRIMP 261 



bottom on the tips of their slender legs. Lobsters 

 are agile, wary, pugnacious, and able to defend them- 

 selves against many larger enemies. Like many crus- 

 taceans they are cannibalistic and often destroy in- 

 jured or smaller lobsters. This tendency is not 

 especially evident in their natural abode, but wben 

 large numbers are cooped up in live-cars or pounds 

 awaiting sale, the larger lobsters usually kill and eat 

 the smaller ones. 



Lobsters are, for the most part, carnivorous ani- 

 mals, living upon the fish and invertebrates which in- 

 habit the bottom and come within their reach. 

 Although they are great scavengers, it is probable 

 that they always prefer fresh food to stale. They are 

 very fond of clams and other mollusks and often dig 

 up the bottom in search of shell-fish. Lobsters not 

 only eat the meat of the shell-fish but also consume 

 fragments of the shells. It has been suggested that 

 the lime for the hardening of the shell after molting 

 is obtained from this source. 



Nature has endowed the lobster with some remark- 

 able powers. Inasmuch as the lobster grows very 

 slowly and does not reach maturity until it is five 

 or six years old, he would have great difficulty in 

 surviving the many perils that constantly beset him 

 if he did not possess the wonderful power of regen- 

 eration or replacement of lost parts. Thus, if a 

 lobster loses a leg, a claw, or an eye, a new one soon 

 sprouts and is regenerated. Further, if a lobster gets 

 caught, he drops the leg or claw which is held, and 

 thus often manages to escape with his life. Later the 

 missing member is regenerated. Curiously the regen- 



