Cold water, slow growth, and the best-tasting result in the Atlantic.

A lobster's shell cannot stretch, so growth means moulting: it backs out of the old shell and emerges soft, swollen with water, and vulnerable until its new shell hardens.

Young lobsters moult frequently. As they grow larger, moulting becomes less frequent — eventually happening about once a year or less. A lobster that has reached legal harvest size has already gone through many moults.

One claw is a heavy crusher, with rounded surfaces for breaking hard shells; the other is a slimmer cutter or pincer claw with sharper edges for grabbing and tearing prey.

Young lobsters begin with similar claws. As they develop, one claw becomes the crusher and the other the cutter. Which side becomes the crusher is influenced by early activity and use.

Lobsters are mostly nocturnal, spending much of the day in shelters among rocks and emerging to hunt crabs, molluscs, fish, and other prey.

The lobster fishery is managed using a combination of minimum legal sizes, fishing seasons, trap limits, escape vents, and protections for reproductive females. Exact rules vary between Lobster Fishing Areas.

Egg-bearing females must be released, and in some fishing areas V-notching helps identify reproductive females that receive additional protection. Traps are fitted with escape mechanisms so undersized lobsters can escape before the trap is hauled.