Mars is indeed the red planet today. In fact, thanks to copious amounts of Cape Cod sunshine, I am almost the exact shade of rosy red as my gorgeous lobster dinner. Don’t worry, yes I was wearing sunscreen! No matter, at least nobody is trying to plop me on a plateful of lettuce and eat me! Ha, ha!
I am having a blast and enjoying some much-needed downtime on my mini getaway. Truth be told, I have always been a huge fan of a good-sized, juicy lobster. So, my evenings on the Cape wouldn’t be complete without my seafood of choice.
While we are on the topic of lobsters, I thought you, my MARvelous MARtian multitude, might enjoy the top 10 surprising facts about lobsters. You will be totally shell-shocked.
1. They are cannibalistic: lobsters are not fussy when it comes to their dinner. In fact, if another lobster is hanging around a rather peckish lobster he might not be around for long. This is one of the reasons the lobster business is not as profitable as it could be.
2. They grow forever: lobsters can get really big! In fact, it is not unusual to find a 20 to 30-pound lobster.
3. Their “teeth” are in their stomachs: lobsters have a grinding mechanism that acts like teeth to break down food. The unusual part is the location of these grinders is in the lobsters’ stomach.
4. They can regrow missing parts: should a claw be pulled off in the sea, a lobster can regenerate a new one. It takes a few years, but it will eventually be as large as the original.
5. Lobsters used to be cheap eats: only the poor would eat lobsters in the colonial days. The lobsters were plentiful and thought to be bland so they often ended up as prison food.
6. Their legs are tasty: well, that seems pretty obvious, but what I mean to say is they taste foods with the tiny hairs on their legs.
7. Lady lobsters undress before mating: when she is ready for romance the female lobster will shed her shell and send out a pheromone signal for local males.
8. Lobster shells make for great golfing; instead of tossing all those discarded lobster shells, one company has taken to recycling them into biodegradable golf balls that can be used on cruise ships in good conscience.
9. They don’t scream: in fact, lobsters do not have vocal chords. What you hear when cooking is air escaping in the form of steam.
10. Lobsters are strong: one lobster claw can compress up to 100 pounds per square inch.
Any surprises? Hope you enjoyed. Now, the ocean waves are singing their siren song so I think I will go for a dip. (And I am not talking about in melted butter.) Stay tuned!
