MANUAL OF FISH-CULTURE. 233 



year tlie length is 5 to 7 inches. By the end of 4i or 5 years a length 

 of about 10 inches is reached. The rate of growth, however, depends 

 greatly on the environment, the abundance of food being a very impor- 

 tant factor. 



The adult lobster usually molts in summer, and in the case of the 

 female, shortly after the hatching of the eggs. As several months are 

 required for the new shell to acquire the hardness of the old ; as newly- 

 laid eggs are rarely found on a soft-shell lobster; as molting does not 

 ensue while the eggs are on the swimmerets; and, furthermore, as 

 dissection has shown that the ovaries of a lobster whose eggs have 

 recently hatched are in an immature condition and will not yield eggs 

 until the succeeding year, it follows that the mature lobster deposits 

 eggs not oftener than once in two years, with an alternating molt. 



SIZE AND WEIGHT. 



The average size of lobsters caught for market is now much less than 

 it was in the earlier days of the fishery, and their average weight is 

 probably not over 2 pounds. A lobster 9 inches long weighs, on an 

 average, 1^ j)ounds; a lOJ-inch lobster, If pounds; a 12-inch lobster, 3 

 pounds; and a 15-inch lobster, 4 to 5 pounds; while a lobster 20 inches 

 long weighs 20 pounds or more. Lobsters weighing as much as 15 or 

 20 pounds are uncommon, and those weighing over 20 pounds are very 

 rare. Up to a recent date, Ihe largest lobster of authenticated weight 

 wat about 25 pounds. In 1897, however, 3 lobsters, each weighing over 

 30 pounds, were taken off Sandy Hook, X. J.,the weight of the largest 

 being 33 pounds. 



The male lobster weighs more than the female of the same length, 

 the difference in 11-inch lobsters, for instance, being about a quarter 

 of a pound. 



The size at which the lobster attains sexual maturity is a very 

 important question. In the Xew England and Middle States and the 

 Canadian Provinces the laws relating to the minimum size of market- 

 able lobsters are quite various and illustrate the absence of definite 

 information on tliis subject. In Maine, Massachusetts, Xew Hamp- 

 shire, and New York the minimum limit of size of lobsters that maybe 

 sold is now lOi inches; in Rhode Island it is 10 in dies, and in Con- 

 necticut it is 9 inches. In the British Provinces the limit is much 

 lower than in Maine. 



Investigations conducted by the Fish Commission on the XewEngiand 

 coast show that the female lobster attains maturity when from 8 to 12 

 inches long. Comparatively few lobsters under 9 inches in length 

 lay eggs. Of over 1,000 egg-bearing lobsters collected at Woods Hole 

 during a period of years, less than 2 per cent were under 9 inches long. 

 On the other hand, by the time they have reached the length of lOJ 

 inches most lobsters will have produced eggs, and this should be the 

 minimum size permitted in the markets. 



