Lobsters are large marine crustaceans whose reputation as deep-sea scavengers often leads to questions about their actual diet. These animals are common bottom-dwellers, and their role in the ocean ecosystem involves consuming a wide array of food sources from the seafloor. The feeding habits of the American and European lobster species are a combination of active hunting and opportunistic foraging.
The Lobster’s Natural Diet
The lobster is classified as an opportunistic omnivore, meaning it will consume both plant and animal matter. Although often characterized as a scavenger, an adult lobster is also an efficient, active predator that hunts at night. They use their impressive claws to process their meals, with one claw typically larger for crushing hard-shelled prey, and the other designed for tearing softer food items. Their preferred diet consists largely of live prey, including mollusks, marine worms, sea stars, sea urchins, smaller fish, and other crustaceans like crabs. Lobsters possess highly acute chemoreceptors on their antennules and walking legs, which detect chemical signals to locate both live food and carrion.
Scavenging and Consuming Organic Waste
The consumption of dead organisms, or carrion, is also a regular part of their feeding strategy. While they prefer fresh food, they readily consume dead animals they find on the ocean floor, especially if live prey is scarce. This scavenging behavior makes them integral to the deep-sea ecosystem by helping to recycle nutrients back into the environment. This adaptability between predation and scavenging allows lobsters to thrive across varied ocean habitats.
The specific question of whether lobsters consume feces is answered by examining their role as detritivores. Lobsters are primary consumers of detritus—decomposed organic particulate matter that settles on the ocean floor. This detritus is a complex mixture that includes fragments of dead organisms, shed exoskeletons, and broken-down fecal material from other marine life. The highly sensitive chemoreceptors on the lobster’s walking legs, which act as “taste” sensors, enable them to locate these nutrient-rich organic sediments. While a lobster is not specifically seeking out fresh excrement, it routinely processes the decomposed fecal matter incorporated into the detrital layer, efficiently extracting nutrition and contributing to the recycling of biological waste.
How Diet Affects Lobster Meat
The lobster’s digestive system processes its varied diet, including fresh prey and organic waste. Food is ground in the foregut by the gastric mill (internal teeth) before moving to the midgut gland, known as the hepatopancreas or tomalley, which manages nutrient digestion and absorption. This organ filters impurities and stores energy reserves, which may include trace contaminants. However, the meat consumed by humans—the tail and claw muscle tissue—is considered safe and high-quality protein because muscle tissue is distinct from the digestive organs and does not accumulate waste products. Furthermore, commercially caught lobsters are often held in clean, circulating seawater tanks before being sold; this “shedding out” process allows the lobster to naturally cleanse its digestive system.