What the Shell? Cracking the Lobster's Mysteries
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Do lobsters really mate for life or is that just a pop‑culture myth?
You know, I I still get emails about this episode of the show Friends where Ross and Rachel, the characters, finally hook up after this long emivalent romance and Phoebe, who's kind of the tree hugger in the group, she's like, Oh, look, I knew it. He's her lobster. Because she has this kind of pop culture idea going that lobsters make for life.
Hang in there. It's gonna happen. Well okay, now how do you know that? Because she's your lobster. Come on you guys, it's a known fact that lobsters fall in love and mate for life. And you know what? You can actually see old lobster couples walking around their tank, you know, holding claws. See? He's her lobster.
All these years later, I can still hear Phoebe in my head saying that. She convinced millions of people that lobsters are super romantic. Honestly, all I care is that lobsters are super delicious. But I guess it's good that they have some happiness before ending up inside a buttered roll. A delicious, delicious lobster roll. I live in New England, and lobster rolls are pretty much the pinnacle of summer here. Perfect for the latest episode of Castropod, the podcast that looks at food through the lens of science and history. I'm Cynthia Graber. And I'm Nicola Twilley, and this episode, we're considering the lobster. Like, first things first. Do lobsters really have lifelong Love affairs as Phoebe claims, or are their relationships a little more complicated than that?
Heads up for those of you listening with folks who might find lobster sex a little too steamy. Sorry. But this episode really does get into it with the lobster bedroom action. You have been warned. I'm getting a little warm already. But speaking of steamy, how did steamed lobsters go from prison fare to the highest echelons of fine dining? How did the lobster go from trashy to fancy? And finally, what does the military want with our lobsters? All will be revealed in this encore episode of Gastropod. Gastropod is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
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Couple weeks ago, I headed to Maine with my partner Tim for some very critical gastropod research. Someone has to do the hard work on this show. Cynthia taking one for the team like the hero she is. I'm gonna see how easy it is to crack this lobster shell. They didn't give me any like cracky things. Wait, how do I crack a lobster? Without a lobster cracker. It didn't say. Turns out all I had to do was go back up to where the napkins were and grab a nutcracker. Okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna try it. Okay, that's not so bad. So the cracking wasn't super hard to do, and then I set right in to gorge myself on all that delicious lobster meat. Of course, all the while dipping it into the cup of melted butter. One of the very few things I miss about living on the East Coast is the summertime lobster roll.
I personally am a hot butter girl, although I won't turn down a cold mayo roll. I'm equal opportunity when it comes to lobster rolls. I love lobster rolls. I also love whole steamed lobsters, as you listeners all just heard. And summer really is the height of lobster season here. It's when the waters closer to shore warm up and the lobsters crawl into that shallower water to molt. and mate, and they also happen to crawl into lots of local lobster traps. Summer is also when the shore in New England finally warms up enough for lots of tourists to crawl out onto it and enjoy a summer vacation. Tourists like Trevor Corson, author of the book The Secret Life of Lobsters.
My grandparents were, you know, summer visitors to Maine when I was a little kid, and we would go visit them there.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Do lobsters really mate for life or is that just a pop‑culture myth?
0:01–4:21
2
How did the American lobster go from prison fare to a high‑end restaurant delicacy?
4:21–9:54
3
What ecological changes let lobster populations explode after the cod fishery collapsed?
9:54–16:39
4
Why are lobster eyes so uniquely engineered and how did they inspire an X‑ray space telescope?
16:39–22:10
5
How did scientists finally discover and describe the mysterious lobster penis?
22:10–28:03
6
What new technique lets researchers determine a lobster’s exact age from its stomach teeth?
28:03–33:06
7
How can lobster shells be turned into a strong, flexible material for armor and biodegradable plastics?
33:06–38:47
8
What are the biggest current threats to the lobster fishery and why are numbers now declining?
38:47–43:21