Bands on Lobster Claws

[adam james]

Speaking from examining several thousand dungeness crab, the skeleton starts pretty hollow and fills in. When the storms were slamming us, the water pretty warm, we were pulling 3 crab per pound. Calm cold water a few weeks later the same size crab was four to six for 10 pounds.

My father is a lobster fisherman here on the atlantic coast of North America. My job for many years growing up was banding lobsters when they are first caught on the boat. I will say that when molting, and deeper water lobsters (over 100ft) were usually softer shelled, and softer shelled lobsters always had much less meat in them. The stuff that was always best for consumption was caught near the shore, in warmer water. This may be due to time of year (end of fall). The amount of meat usually was linked to how hard the shell was. I do not have any information on how banding affects muscle development though, only to say that i have been nailed by a 4lb lobster after the bands were removed and it still hurt like crazy LOL.