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A Maine or American lobsterA lobster is an animal or crustacean that lives on the floor of the ocean. It is an invertebrate, meaning that it has no backbone. The lobster is a carnivore, or meat eater, and contrary to popular belief does not eat dead things. Its diet consists of fresh food, such as small fish, crabs, clams, mussels and sometimes other lobsters. There are different types of lobsters. The most common one is the Maine or American lobster, which is found from Newfoundland down to North Carolina along the east coast of the United States. - The lobster is a nocturnal animal meaning that it hunts and moves around mostly at night. A young lobster usually lives in seaweed and rocky habitats, while an older lobster typically lives in the deeper waters on the ocean floor. The older lobster crawls instead of swims. The older lobster uses its walking legs and moves along by contracting and retracting its tail. Hunting and capturing a lobster requires the use of a lobster trap since it cannot be caught like fish.
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A wooden lobster trapA lobster trap can be made of wood, metal or plastic. There can be various looking traps but all lobster traps have one basic design on the inside. All have a funnel type entrance in which the lobster can crawl inside but makes it harder for it to crawl back out. The inside has two sections, the kitchen and the parlor. The lobster enters through the funnel door into the kitchen, where the bait is tied. After taking the bait, the lobster not being able to exit back through the funnel door, goes into the parlor where it is trapped until it is released. There are small vents in the parlor so that a smaller lobster can get out and a larger lobster stays trapped. A buoy is tied to the trap before the trap is dropped into the water, so that the traps can be found. After a day or two, the lobster fisherman come back to check on the traps and release any lobsters inside. The lobsters are measured and if they are not of regulation size will be thrown back.
