What Is a Lobster's Diet?

As scavengers and opportunistic feeders, lobsters take advantage of whatever food choices are readily available. Other marine animals, plants and animal matter are normal menu items for the lobster.

  1. Diet

    • Lobster are opportunity eaters; usually consuming crabs, marine worms, clams, starfish, mussels, sea urchins and even slow swimming flounder. When preferable food choices are unavailable, lobsters will eat plants, sponges and decaying animal matter found on the sea floor. According to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, a lobster's diet consists of more than 100 different species of animals.

    Digestion

    • Interestingly, the lobster tastes his food with his feet. The lobster's meal is processed by three stomachs, one of which has a "gastric mill," or molar type teeth that grind food into small pieces. Urine and fecal waste is excreted from glands at the base of the antennae.

    Molting

    • During certain stages of the life cycle, a lobster will shed its shell. During its first five years of life, it may molt up to 25 times. Lobsters will consume the discharged shell to provide calcium for strengthening the new shell.

    Captivity

    • Lobster have been shown to become cannibalistic when in captivity. Being enclosed in small areas with other lobsters causes some to eat one another. It has not been confirmed whether lobsters are cannibals in their native environment.