Thomas Matthews, a lobster biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said: "In fact, the age limit of lobsters is the same as that of most other creatures ... However, some lobsters do live a long life." Matthews said that American lobsters can live to at least 100 years old if they are not threatened by any predation. The ultimate life span of this American lobster is more than five times that of the Caribbean lobster, which even lives less than 20 years old.
Matthews said that the water temperature environment in which lobsters live is the main reason why the age difference between the two lobsters is so large. When lobsters live in warm water, such as the Caribbean, the metabolism of lobsters living in the Caribbean is faster. On the contrary, if they live in cold water, their metabolism will slow down. However, let's take a look at what "American lobster" is: American lobsters generally live in a relatively cold water environment. For example, most American lobsters live in the northern part of the east coast of the United States and belong to the cold Atlantic waters, which helps to slow down the metabolism of American lobsters, make them age more slowly, and then make their life span as long as it is.
The mysterious origin of lobster
Lobster is born with a special ability, which may be a supplement to the myth that lobster can live forever. Heather bracken Gleason, an assistant professor of marine science at Florida International University, said that these giant crustaceans never stop growing, although their growth rate will decrease with age. When this invertebrate grows to 4~ 18 months old and their weight is about 0.5 kg, most fishermen will catch it at this time, because there will be more lobsters like this. But Matthews said that because of the "endless" growth ability of lobster, the weight of "American old lobster" can even grow to the highest 1 1 kg.
Although many other creatures, including humans, basically stop growing in size after adulthood, it is still uncertain whether those common crustaceans and other groups can "grow indefinitely" like lobsters, such as barnacles and Daphnia. In addition, lobsters can reproduce into old age, which is not common in other animals. In fact, if "old lobsters" can still reproduce, it will be beneficial to their reproduction. Older female lobsters are often "better mothers" because they can release lobster eggs in farther waters and breed healthier and stronger offspring. Crayfish generally choose to lay their eggs closer to the coast, and there will be more pollution and sediment near the coast. These pollutants and sediments will suffocate lobster eggs, thus greatly reducing the reproduction of lobsters, even the surviving lobsters are not very healthy.
How long can lobsters live?
Lobsters are not immortal, but it is still difficult to determine their age. These creatures shed their skins, leaving almost nothing to reveal their true age. Even if you take out the hard parts such as the stomach wall, cheek cover and eyes of lobster, you can't be sure how many years it has lived. This is an incredible thing. However, in the past few years, researchers have found that lobsters actually have "teeth" in their stomachs, and these "teeth" in their stomachs can even grow until the molting period of lobsters is over. These "teeth" have lines similar to tree rings, which is also a reliable way to help interpret the age of lobsters.
Researchers are trying to determine how the lines in the stomachs of these lobsters are formed, and whether the water temperature will affect their appearance or growth rate. We really want to know if a lobster stays on a seamount (underwater mountain range) with high water temperature for a period of time and then returns to colder water at the bottom of the sea, whether this will affect the growth rings on its stomach teeth. However, although lobsters have a lot to study, one fact is clear: lobsters are unlikely to grow indefinitely.
So recently, many of our lobster training schools often mislead consumers that lobster is something left over from the "Millennium shrimp", which is basically not credible. There have been many chaos in lobster training in recent years, so we should learn more scientific knowledge to think and judge independently. Although there are many chaos in the lobster training industry, there are always good ones.
But one thing is certain: lobsters will not grow indefinitely as many chefs who train lobsters say, which is impossible! Because lobsters, like other creatures on earth, always have the cycle of life. If not, the ecological cycle on the earth would have been broken.