Quote:
Originally Posted by grey zone
The lobster he is holding is female...... The swimmerettes on males do not touch or overlap..
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Sometimes the internet just blows me away. Where do people come up with this Stuff!
Though the smaller bug is female, the big lobster is obviously a male!!
The swimmerets would be at least a third larger on a female, it has male sex organs, but more importantly for those who want something obvious, the last set of legs closest to the tail would have little claws on them if it was a female.
It's obvious from his pic.
Look a the rear legs on both bugs and note the difference.
Female lobsters have these claws so they can move eggs around on their tail. I would think anyone whose seen more then a handful of lobsters would know that difference it's just so obvious. Males do not have the little claws, they have no use for them.
The big lobster has single points on it's last set of legs at the tail. On the inside of those legs there are two gelatinous fleshy nobs that are it's male sex organs. It's tail is small in relation to it's carapace mass, which is not the case with females. Females need bigger tails to carry more eggs. Add to that...that almost every lobster caught that size off California would be male just do to simple biology. Big Bull lobster over eight pounds are almost always males. That's why they call them bulls not cows.
So basically anyone who's handled any lobster of any size would know right away it's male.
Here's a female with eggs..
You might want to notice how the swimmerets are not only bigger but double layered and kind of pointed. The legs closest to the tail are not pointed, because the have a little claw on them. Notice how far apart those legs are where they connect to it's body. How they make an upside down V were it connects to the tail. Now look again at his pic.
His bugs legs are pointed and the connection at the body is longer so the insides of the legs almost touch. No V shape, but instead two knobs which just happen to be male sex organs.
That lobster is definitely male!!!
Jim