Lobsters have been nicknamed the “insects” or “cockroaches of the sea” because of their appearance, called garbage eaters by friends that want to stop you from enjoying your meal, and there’s a rumor that yours may be farm raised on a diet of slop. Good news, pretty much none of this is true.
This question comes up every once in a while from customers that are curious about the rumor, or because they have a friend that mentioned it. So we’d like to debunk this myth once and for all, starting with the insect part.
Lobsters Are Not Insects
No, lobsters are not insects as they belong to the subphylum Crustacea while insects belong to the subphylum Hexapoda and class of Insecta. In addition, lobsters have 10 appendages making them decapods while all insects are six legged making them hexapods. Both lobsters and insects belong to the Arthropod family, but they’re not that similar as this family contains roughly 84% of the animals on earth.
Lobsters just happen to look a bit different with their long tails, big claws, and cool antennae that sometimes resemble bugs. They also live at the bottom of the ocean so they’re seen running along like an insect across your floor. But appearance does not mean it’s an insect or a bug. It’s the same as crawfish being nicknamed “mudbugs”.
So if you have a friend telling you you’re eating an insect, they’re either misinformed or are trying to score some of your tasty and tender lobster dinner. And their next argument is likely that lobsters are not healthy because they eat garbage off the ocean floor. This is also mostly a myth.
Lobsters Do Not Eat Waste as a Primary Food Source
Lobsters do live on the bottom of the ocean so they are bottom dwellers, but that does not mean they eat waste as a primary food source like the insect species of beetles, flies, and roaches. They are bottom feeders that enjoy fresh foods and have diets rich in the same things you and we eat including:
- Clams, mussels, oysters, and other shellfish.
- Crustaceans like shrimp and crabs.
- Sear urchins and starfish.
- Plants and algae.
In fact their anatomy is designed to help them catch and eat the foods above. Maine lobsters have two different size claws with the crusher claw used to break apart shells and hard surfaces so the lobster can access the meat, and the pincher claw for ripping apart the flesh so the lobster can enjoy the meal.
Lobsters have a healthy diet, so even though they are bottom feeders, many food sources are what we consider a luxury dinner and pay top dollar for at restaurants. Their diet is one of the reasons lobsters are nutritious foods with protein, selenium, copper, B-12 and more nutrients.
Fun fact: Lobsters eat their own shell after molting to increase their calcium intake making it faster and easier to grow their new shell.
Lobsters Are Not Farmed
Lobsters (especially Maine lobsters) cannot be commercially farm raised as the growing process takes too long, and there is a chance they would eat other lobsters in the tank. It doesn’t make sense humanely or financially to farm lobsters like fish farming. Maine Lobsters in particular are all wild caught.
The reason why we mention this in an article about lobsters and insects is the diet and the way they’re raised. Some farmed animals are fed less than ideal diets like “poultry litter” (learn more here and here) and this same type of diet is what an insect may eat. If someone can be convinced a lobster farm is feeding fecal matter and other not-so-pleasant meals to the lobsters, that person is more likely to believe a lobster is a type of insect. And that would also mean the person did not research and believes lobster farms are a common thing.
The very few lobster farms that exist are for repopulation programs and not commercial food supply. They are specifically for the spiny and European lobster, not Maine lobsters. If you’re eating a Maine lobster, it is almost certainly wild caught.
And chances are that if you’re eating spiny lobsters (Carribean and Californian) it is also wild caught as the spiny lobster farms are mostly in Norway (the first ever land based lobster farm and specialized in European Lobsters) and Southeast Asia. Vietnam is the most well known region for this which you can read about here.
If someone is trying to convince you that your Maine or US caught spiny lobster is unhealthy because it is farm raised, you can continue enjoying your meal. They are making the assumption that lobsters can and are farmed in the US like salmon, but didn’t do their research. Farmed fish like salmon may have more fat and less nutrients, but the lobsters you are eating are wild caught.
Fun fact: While farmed salmon used to have more pollutants than wild caught, that number was reduced when the diets they fed the salmon were changed. Farmed salmon has historically also had less mercury than wild caught. Calling one healthier than the other depends on what the person considers healthier.
If you have someone trying to ruin your meal by telling you lobsters are insects or cockroaches of the sea, tell them to find their own dinner. You’re having a healthy, delicious, and incredibly nutritious meal. And if you’re ready to enjoy a lobster dinner, order from us. We sell live lobsters that ship to your door, tails, and pre-shucked lobster meat.