Food

The European lobster is carnivorous. It hunts slower prey such as mollusks, sea worms, echinoderms, crustaceans, and fish. It also feeds on dead animals.

Breeding

The European lobster is solitary. It gathers with other lobsters only to mate. Mating can take place only once the female has molted. They perform a courtship ritual, then the male releases its sperm in the female's receptacle using its abdominal appendices as reproductive organs. The sperm is then stored in a pouch for a long period. The female draws from the stock and fertilizes her eggs using the same sperm over a period of several years. It can produce up to about 50 000 eggs. At a given moment she lays and then carries her eggs on her abdomen for around 10 months. Many eggs are lost during incubation. The female shakes her body which releases the eggs for hatching. Its larvae then continue to migrate with the current. Afterward, they molt several times and swim to the seabed where they find shelter. Few juveniles survive until adulthood. The lobster molts about ten times in its first year before this number decreases until it stops growing.

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