Author & Illustrator: Jacob Worthing

This book cannot be copied by anybody because it is

Jacob Worthing’s information.

Copyright c 2009 by Jacob Worthing

Printed in USA, Worthing Publishing, Inc; 10 Rankin

Street, Springvale, Maine 04083

Worthing, Jacob The Alphabet Book of Lobsters

Non-fiction

For The

Carl J. Lamb

Students.

Table of

Contents

Introduction Page 1

A Antenna Page 2

B Bodies Page 3

C Claws Page 4

D Digestive System Page 5

E Eggs Page 6

F Food Page 7

G Grows Page 8

H Habitat Page 9

I Internal Anatomy Page 10

J Jointed Page 11

K Kills food Page 12

L Legs Page 13

M Molt Page 14

N Nova Scotia Page 15

O Odor Page 16

P Pincher Page 17

Q Quota Page 18

R Regenerate Page 19

S Seeder Page 20

T Tomalley Page 21

U Ugly Page 22

V Variety Page 23

W Water- wet Page 24

X X-ray Page 25

Y Young Page 26

Z Zone Page 27

About the Author Page 28

In this book you will find a lot of information about the Lobster. There are three or more fascinating facts about the Lobster on every page. This book will start with A and end with Z. I hope that you will find the Lobster very interesting. When you are done reading this book, you will probably like Lobsters as much as I do.

Pg. 1

Is for antenna…

The lobster has two antennas. An antenna looks like a floppy stick. The

antenna is located on a Lobster’s head. An antenna is like a nose for a lobster and it

can also sense danger that is coming.

The antenna

Pg. 2

Is for body…

The body on a lobster is made of sections. The different sections on a lobster are the

Thorax, Tail, Flippers, Walkers, Claws and the Antenna.

The Lobster has no bones in his or her body. The body of a Lobster is covered by a hard

shell. Lobsters are caught by men and women in Lobster Boats.

Pg. 3

Is for claws…

The lobster has two types of claws and the claws are called the Crusher claw and the Pincher claw.

The Pincher claw is the smaller claw out of the two claws.

The Crusher claw is the claw that breaks open a prey so the lobster can eat it.

The Crusher claw is bigger out of the two claws. The crusher claw can be on either side, because some

lobsters are right or left handed. Some claws are weird looking like in this picture.

Pg. 4

Is for Digestive System…

The Lobster’s mouth is near the beginning of the

claws. The Lobster has three stomachs. The first thing a lobster does, is crushes its food

with its crusher claw. Then it puts it into his or her mouth with its two

front walker legs. The food goes through the Gullet, and into the

Gastric Mill, where it grinds up the food. Then it goes to the Digestive gland. That is

where the nutrients are absorbed. Then it goes into the intestines and out the anus at

the end of the tail.

Pg. 5

Is for Eggs...

Eggs come out of a mother Lobster after she has mated with a boy Lobster.

The Lobster eggs stick under a mother’s tail for about a year.

The color of a baby lobster egg is green and it is squishy.

The baby lobster grows inside the egg, it molts 4 to 5 times and then it will hatch.

A mother Lobster can have up to 10,000 eggs under her tail, and only about 10 will become adult lobsters, the others will die.

Pg. 6

Is for food…

A Lobster is sometimes a scavenger, which means he or

she looks for dead meat. A Lobster will eat a crab, clam, mussel, sea urchin or fish,

dead or alive.

Lobsters can also be food for humans. We can cook Lobsters by steaming them, boiling them,

baking them, or frying them. I think that frying or baking a live lobster is horrifying.

People should not cook a dead lobster and then eat them. When you are done cooking a lobster, when you take

them out of the pan, they turned red, like this picture shows you.

Pg. 7

Is for Grows…

Lobsters grow slowly. A lobster grows continually throughout its

life. A lobster grows fast when it’s young and

slower when it’s older. When a lobster gets bigger, it molts which

means it wiggles out of its shell and grows another one.

Pg. 8

Lobster Larvae

Just kidding this is

a baby in a lobster

suit!!

Is for habitat…

A Lobster only lives in the Ocean, deep down

on the ocean floor. They live in between rocks, where it is dark

and safe. A lobster can only live in the ocean because

salt water is like air to them and fresh water is like a poison for a Lobster.

A lobster does not like to live with other lobsters because it wants to be alone.

Pg. 9

Pg. 10

Is for Internal Anatomy…

The Brain of a Lobster is very small, like a peanut,

it is not very intelligent. A lobster’s antenna helps it sense where food is

and if danger is coming. A lobster has three stomachs and the intestines. A lobster has one heart which is on its back, and

one artery that goes along its tail. A lobster has some muscles in its tail. The bladder on a Lobster is under its brain. Next to the bladder is the green gland which is like

a liver to us.

Pg. 11

Is for Jointed …

A lobster has 5 joints on his tail. The lobster’s legs are jointed too. The arms where the claws are connected have joints. Joints are where the pieces are connected, that is where they can bend. The antennas are jointed, they can move all around in a circle and back and forth.

Pg. 12

In-between the sections are where the joints are on the lobster.

Is for Kills…

Lobsters will kill another of their kind when they don’t have any other food around them.

A Lobster is mostly a predator, which means that they will hunt down another live sea creature and kill them for food.

A lobster first catches the crab, then crushes him with his crusher claw, then tears him open to eat him. That is how a lobster kills his dinner.

This crab will be

dinner

Is for Legs…

A lobster has 8 legs. There are 4 legs on each side of a lobster’s body. If you count the two claws, it has 10 legs, but I

think the claws are more like arms. A lobster crawls slowly using his legs. Lobsters legs bend where the joints are.

Pg.

13

Empty shell

Is for molts…

When Lobsters grow, they start to molt. Molting means that a lobster will grow another shell. The first thing that happens is a lobster gets too big for his shell. The shell breaks open and the lobster wiggles out of its shell. When the lobster is out of its shell it looks like a weak rubber

lobster. Then the lobster grows a new shell: it takes about 6 weeks to

grow. The lobster has to hide in his cave for safety while it is growing

its new shell.

Pg. 14

Stage 1 Stage 2

Stage 3

Is for Nova Scotia…

Nova Scotia is located in

Canada. Nova Scotia is the place

where Lobsters are caught very often. The biggest Lobster ever caught was in Nova Scotia.

It weighed 44 lbs 6 oz. It was between 3-4 feet

long. The Lobster was about

100 Years old!!

Pg. 15

Is for Odor…

A Lobster can sense odors with its antenna. Odors are like smells. A Lobster will sense another sea creature and

other lobsters by their odor. A lobster can even sense a sick lobster.

Pg. 16

Antenna close-up

Is for Pincher…

A lobster’s pincher claw is smaller than the crusher claw. The pincher claw tears the food after it is crushed by the

crusher claw. The pincher claw is like a saw, it has little teeth so it has

good grip when it is tearing. The reason why the put bands on a lobster’s claws is so

they will not pinch or crush you with their claws.

Pg. 17

Teeth on pincher

Is for Quota…

A quota is how many traps a lobsterman can have. A lobsterman has a license that tells him or her how

many traps they can have. Some lobsterman can have up to 800 traps. A lobster body has to be bigger than 4 inches and less

than 16 inches to keep. A lobsterman doesn’t have a limit on how many lobsters

he can catch in one trap.

Pg. 18

Is for regenerate…

A lobster can regenerate a leg, antenna or claw

Regenerate means that if a lobster looses a claw it can grow it back.

A lobster might loose a claw, antenna, or leg if it is in a fight, or when it is hunting.

If a lobster is in danger, it could take it own claw off, to make it seem sick, so the predator would not eat him.

When a lobster bleeds, the blood is clear, not red like us.

Pg. 19

Is for Seeder…

A female Lobster with eggs is called a seeder. If a seeder is caught, the lobsterman must put the lobster

back because it is the law. The law protects the lobsters that are making babies, so

that there will always be lobsters. When a lobsterman catches a seeder, they clip a v-notch

into their tail, to mark her as a breeder. Good lobsterman put back all v-notched lobsters even if

they are not carrying eggs.

Pg. 20

Is for Tomalley…

Tomalley is food for humans. Tomalley is the cooked liver of a Lobster. The color of Tomalley is light green. Some people like to eat Tomalley because they think that

it has a wonderful sweet taste. I think Tomalley is a disgusting, gross looking, green

mashed potatoes.

Pg. 21

Is for Ugly…

A lobster is very ugly. Sometimes a lobster can have mutated claws. Lobsters can have shell disease that makes them even

uglier. Scientist thinks that the pollution in the Ocean is causing

them to have shell disease and mutated bodies.

Pg. 22 Shell Disease

Is for Variety…

Lobsters can be a variety of colors, such as blue, white, brown, green, & yellow.

A lobster is only red when it is finished cooking and ready to eat.

Pigment makes the color of a lobster’s shell. A lobster can have more than one color on it’s

shell.

Pg. 23

Is for Wet…

A lobster lives in the Ocean where he’s always wet. A Lobster needs to be in water most of the time

because they breathe through gills that are on each side of their thorax.

Gills take oxygen from water for them to breath. A lobster can live out of the water for about two

days, as long as he stays wet and cold. When a lobster is out of the water, its gills can

hold air for the lobster to breathe.

Pg. 24

Is for X-ray…

Exoskeleton means a lobster does not have any bones; it only has

its shell to protect its body. If you took an X-ray of a lobster it

would look like this picture

NASA has developed an x-ray

telescope called the Lobster Telescope. It was named after a Lobster

because it works like a lobster’s eyes. The telescope can turn like a lobster’s eyes!

Pg. 25

Is for Young

Young lobsters have a nickname and the nickname is called a nipper.

Even though a lobster is young it will still pinch or nip you!

Young lobsters when they are caught, will flap their tails a lot and so they are also called a snapper.

Young lobsters are faster at growing than adults. Young lobsters molt a lot more times in a year

than an old lobster does.

Pg. 26

Is for Zone…

A Lobsterman can only

have a certain area where he or she can put their traps in the water, this is their zone.

A lobsterman must have a license to fish for lobsters.

The license tells them what zone he can fish in.

The first zone is State Zone that means a lobsterman can only catch lobsters inside 3 miles from Maine’s shore.

The second zone is called Federal Zone where a lobsterman can fish only outside of the state zone.

Lobsterman also fish inside of local zones that are around the harbor they fish out of. They respect each other’s turf.

Pg. 27

About the Author…

Hello, I’m Jacob Worthing and I created this book. I like to play football and baseball. I like to ripstik, pogo stick and snow board. I also love to write. I have a dog named Gypsey. My dog is a Golden Retriever. She likes to watch me working on stories and projects. I have a mom, dad and sister. My mom’s name is Brandy and my dad’s name is Scott and my sister’s name is Kendra. My mother likes to help me on important projects like this one. My mother types very fast and she knows the internet very well. My dad knows a lot about lobsters because he owns a boatyard. He used to be a lobsterman. Now he hauls and launches and builds boats for Lobsterman. He also helped us on this project, when we needed more information. My sister did not help on this project, but she read it and thought it was brilliant. (Just kidding) I hope you liked my project on Lobsters.