European lobster
| European lobster | ||||||||||||
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European lobster ( Homarus gammarus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Homarus gammarus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The European lobster ( Homarus gammarus ) is a large crab that is found in the northeastern Atlantic from the Lofoten Islands to the coast of Morocco . It also lives in the Azores and in the western Mediterranean to the Aegean Sea as well as in the Sea of Marmara and on the coasts of Bulgaria and Romania in the western Black Sea . In the North Sea, the European lobster is found near Heligoland , among others .
features
The European lobster can grow up to 60 centimeters long and weigh up to 4 kg. Nowadays, most animals only reach 30 centimeters with a weight of 1 kg. The shell is from blue-black to dark purple in color. The first pair of legs carries scissors of different strengths and designs, narrower gripping scissors with sharp thorns and larger snap scissors. If the scissors are lost, the next time they are molted, new scissors are created at this point, while the remaining scissors are transformed into scissors. Adult lobsters molt once or twice a year, increasing in length by one to two centimeters.
Way of life
European lobsters live at depths of two to 50 meters, up to a maximum of 150 meters, on rocky ground and hide in caves during the day. They are nocturnal and extremely local. Tagged lobsters were always found within 4 to 5 km. Your temperature tolerance is low. At a temperature below 5 ° C they no longer eat, at 20 to 22 ° C they die. They feed on all kinds of invertebrates, ground-dwelling animals, including smaller conspecifics, dead fish and other carrion. Hard-shell prey is broken open with the snapping scissors and the meat is brought to the mouth with the gripping scissors.
Reproduction
European lobsters mate in the fall immediately after the female molts. The female keeps the sperm transferred as spermatophores in a semen bag and fertilizes the eggs only in summer. A female can produce 5,000 to 40,000 eggs, depending on size. It attaches them to the underside of the abdomen after they are released . The larvae hatch after ten to twelve months and are then 7 to 8 millimeters long. After a short pelagic stage of about two weeks, the young crabs move on to the soil life of the adult animals. The growth depends on the water temperature and is slow. In the Skagerrak, the lobsters reach sexual maturity at the age of 5 to 7 years, with lengths of 16 to 17 centimeters (males) or 22 to 23 centimeters (females).
use
European lobsters, like their American counterparts, are considered a delicacy. During the summer months, they are caught in lobster baskets that are baited with pieces of fish. Around 3000 to 4000 tons are caught annually. In Norway they are reared in aquaculture and the young lobsters are later released into the wild.
literature
- Matthias Bergbauer, Bernd Humberg: What lives in the Mediterranean? Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07733-0 .
- Bent J. Muus, Jørgen G. Nielsen: The marine fish of Europe in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Atlantic. Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07804-3 .
- Helmut Debelius: Cancer Guide. Jahr Verlag, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-86132-504-7 .
Web links
- FAO Species Fact Sheets Homarus gammarus
- Homarus gammarus inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Posted by: Butler, M., Cockcroft, A., MacDiarmid, A. & Wahle, R., 2009. Retrieved January 19, 2014.