Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files, we’re talking about lobsters. You can subscribe for more animal facts! Thank you to George Kong for today’s suggestion! Admittedly, I have no idea how to tackle this episode; the common name lobster could be referring to many different kinds of animals, some of which aren’t even that closely related. Most people think of these guys when they hear the word lobster. This is a clawed lobster. Clawed lobsters live in the ocean, usually in colder waters, and - obviously - have claws - but they aren’t the only marine lobsters with claws. There are also reef lobsters who are related to clawed lobsters but are separated from them based on the number of claws they have (clawed lobsters technically have six claws, the first two are just so big the others tend to get overlooked). Then there are crayfish, or crawdads, or whatever you want to call them because apparently they have about a bajillion common names. They aren’t really lobsters at all, though I guess you could argue they’re freshwater lobsters. Crayfish, an animal we don’t commonly call lobster, are more closely related to clawed lobsters than some other animals we do commonly call “lobster”. Confused yet? Just wait, there’s more! We then have spiny lobsters who could more or less pass off as lobster without claws. I’ve heard some people guess that spiny lobsters are “female lobsters” - technically speaking, they’re not wrong, because there are female spiny lobsters, but they’re also completely wrong. I mean, c’mon, look at this sexy lady…

We’re still not finished, either! There are also slipper lobsters who barely get a pass as a lobster but if you squint your eyes you can kind of see it. Hmm…. ahh, okay, I get it now. Also, let’s not forget to mention furry lobsters who sound like something I might have just made up to mess with you guys, and then of course there are squat lobsters who I’m fairly certain are just crabs in lobster cosplay. So, yeah. That’s a lot of lobster. How about this, eventually we’ll get around to covering all of these groups, but for now, we’ll just give you some wacky facts and culture history of these beastly arthropods. Good? Well you’re still here so it must be...

The name “lobster” is thought to be an Old English butchering of a Latin word that means something like “locust or grasshopper.” Now that I’m thinking about it, I do kind of see a resemblance. Apparently, back then any unknown arthropod was given this name. Maybe that’s why we have so many “lobsters” today…?

In Greek mythology, lobsters were a piece of the chimeric creatures known today as ichthyocentaurs which are depicted to have the upper body of a man, the front legs of a horse, the tail of a fish, and lobster claws protruding from their heads. (SHO TAKKA YOU’VE GONE TOO FAR!)

In some versions of the Kraken’s tale, this fabled beast of the deep is shown as a giant lobster, and in Disney’s Atlantis the Lost Empire another ancient creature, the leviathan, takes the form of a lobster. In Costa Rica, amulets that resemble lobsters have been found, their meaning possibly concerning the high-ranking socio-economic status of those that donned them. In modern times lobsters take the stage as top tier culinary dish accorded to us by the gods on high - though it should be noted that in their history lobsters were seen as peasant food and fed to the lowest classes of people as they were titled the “cockroaches of the sea”. Oh and there’s an essay by David Foster Wallace about them that you should probably read at some point in your life.

Hopefully that gives you some insight to the diversity of lobsters. I realized this episode was a bit of a break from the norm, but we’ll come back to all these individual groups later on down the line!

For more facts on lobsters, check out the links in the description. If you liked the style of this video, be sure to let us know by giving a thumbs up and commenting. We’ll see you next time on Animal Fact Files!