Detailed view of the giant lobster

The American lobster - a museum piece instead of a feast

People who know them as a delicacy on the menu have seldom seen them in this size. Both of the American lobsters (Homarus americanus) in a glass case on the 2nd floor of the MEERESMUSEUM are the largest in the collection. Their cousins ​​in the marine aquarium at the OZEANEUM have not yet reached anywhere near their impressive size.

The mouths of the fishermen on the "Bernhard Kellermann" really must have been watering when they fished the two lobsters as by-catch from their nets in April 1972. The GDR fishing vessel was at that time under way on the North American Atlantic shelf. Fishermen always had their eyes open for interesting or spectacular animal finds and so the crew gave up an excellent feast and brought this special catch to Stralsund to the MEERESMUSEUM.

The North American lobsters are usually larger and heavier than their European cousins. But only rarely do some specimens reach the size of the two Stralsund exhibits, with a body length of about 70 centimetres and a pincer size of 30 centimetres. The heaviest lobster ever caught weighed about 20 kilogrammes. No wonder, then, that these giants fed people's imagination and fears in former times. Although they can certainly inflict nasty injuries with their powerful pincers, these rather shy animals are no man-eating monsters. They live instead on shellfish and carrion on the sea bed and like to retreat to their burrows for protection.

Something that is mostly only found on the table in high-class eateries in Europe is a low-cost and widespread fast food one on the Atlantic coast of the United States. Thanks to a "crop rotation" model and strict controls of their protection seasons, there is currently no overfishing, as with many other edible ocean animals. Egg-bearing females must be returned to the sea. The lobster meat is considered to be very tasty and very healthy.