Lobster

Do you know that Lobster changes its outer shell when it grows ?This is Molting and a new shell grows over it .Like growing a new shell after leaving from its body it can also re grow legs and claws that have fallen.

They live on rocky bottoms like coral reefs, on sandy beaches and lagoons. They get shelter in Rocks containing holes and under the rocks. It does not go into the deep ocean floor; you will find most of them living ten to hundred feet deep. They come out from the hole only to feed them self.

Mainly they eat live fish, mollusks, crabs, clams snails. Sometimes they are Scavengers and feed on dead animals. When they are on captivity, they may eat other lobsters too. Usually they feed during night. They eat old shell when it molts.

They belong to the group Crustaceans. Don’t be mistaken that it is a fish, as some brings it under the category of Shellfish. They have no backbone to support their bodies. Where as its shell forms an outer skeleton to support it. They are Invertebrates.

They have five pairs of limbs each of them for different purpose, four legs for walking. In addition, front legs are used to hunt animals to eat and to defend it with claws at the end. As the two claws are of deferent sizes the biggest one is for crushing and the other for biting.

They start mating at the age of 8 years and they are able to reproduce thousands of tiny eggs every two years and when baby lobsters are able to swim they go near the water surface where many of them become victims of fish and other sea creatures. The rest swims into the ocean floor at the age of five weeks.

They live more than 15 years depending the environment, mostly in Aquarium their life expectancy would be longer. World heaviest lobster weighs 20 kilograms.

Out of all the sea foods the tastiest of all is Lobster. There three varieties of it in Maldives and they are one of the delicious in the world. Normally you can get it to eat from the best restaurants in Maldives. They a little expensive but the taste will forget it, I guarantee you.

They are caught in Maldives by diving into shallow water with gloves on hand. Though this method is a little difficult but its Environmental friendly .Catching in this way, they could avoid illegal sizes and Lobsters having Eggs.

Most fishermen around the world catch them by trapping in pots called lobsterpots. These pots are made with wooden or metal bars; they have nets fitted in it so that the lobsters cannot get out from it once they get in. Fish are kept in pot as baits to get the attraction of lobsters towards it.

Seafood are Fish, Shellfish and Seaweed

Seafood is divided into 3 main categories - Fish, Shellfish and Seaweed.

Fish are one of the main food resources for humans and many other creatures. Among them are Salt water and fresh water fish.

Salt-water fish lives in the sea in salt water. Some of them makes their home in coral reefs and others live in deep water.

Although there are 27000 species of fish in the world, only a handful of them are selected to eat. Some of them are:

Tuna

Barracuda

Mackerel

Snapper

Cod

Tilapia

Haddock

Trout

Carp

Anchovy

Salmon

Shellfish is divided into 3

1. Mollusks - which are clam,mussel,oyster,winkle,and scallop.
2. Crustaceans-like,shrimp, Crabs, Lobster ,prawns and crayfish.
3. Echinoderms - commonly not used by all but Asians do eat sea urchin and sea cucumber.

Just a minute one more thing,Edible cephalopods,in this group you will find octopus,squids,cuttlefish and snails.

Alright,now you know seafood better and know the different types as well.

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Echinoderms

Sea cucumber and Sea urchin belongs to the group Echinoderms.

Sea cucumber.

It is a sea food belonging to the group Echinoderms.This is mostly used by Asians to eat .

It is found on the sea floor world wide.In Maldives it live at the bottom of shallow lagoons and reefs where there are corals and sea weeds.

They are cucumber shaped with a hard leathery body.

They have feathery tentacles surrounding their mouth.

They have five rows of suckers-tube feet.

Generally they feed on dirts, mud,debris and waste of creatures - they are scavengers.

And with the help of their feathery tentacles they get their foods.

They are known as Reef cleaners.

Types of Sea cucumber in Maldives.

Prickly red fish - Alanaasi

Giant Beache De-mas - Kaggala

Elephant trunk fish - Elephantu

Green fish - Feeru

Surf red fish - Mushi

Lolly fish - holhi

White teat fish - Hudhubattu or Kolhubatu

Black fish - Kolhukiru.

Sea urchin

This is a small, spiny sea creature.

They are found in oceans all over the world.

In Maldives a large amount lives on the Reef.It is preserved creature in Maldives.

Its main food is algae ,and mussels, sponges and brittle stars are also eaten by them.

Some of the countries who use it as a food are:

Korea

Japan

Chile

Spain

Greek

Italy

Lebanon.

Many countries like Chile export to Japan as a large amount of Sea urchin is used in their cuisine.

From this group Sea cucumber is the only product that we Export from Maldives.And there are great opportunities for those who like to Invest on farming them.

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Amazing Crabs

Crabs are an amazing animal from the same group of lobster called crustaceans. Like other crustaceans, these are boneless and their bodies are covered with a hard shell that protects its internal bodies.

These little creatures has many attributes that can adapt many changing environments. Although, most of them live in Oceans, sometimes they come out on the beach. Apart, from sea water crabs there are fresh water ones also. They can move and run sideways using tips of its legs on sandy and muddy beaches. It gets shelter and protection on holes dug by it.

This crustacean have two feelers or antennae and compound eyes, as a result it can see very well. They can find food and mate very easily because of its advanced senses of smell and taste.

It has five pairs of legs; the first with powerful claws at the end. The other four pairs for walking and running and the back pairs are some times used to paddle through the water.

When immature one grows larger, old shell is not needed and a new shell grows over its body. This unprotected state, not having a shell on its body is the most dangerous moment in their life. Because there is the possibility of being eaten by other creatures.

You will find some of these that do not have a hard shell, over their whole body and to save from harm of the bare parts where there is no shell it gets other shells like snail shell. One kind of this is Hermitcrabs. Claws of them are used for many purposes; to protect it from predators, to fight and to hunt its prey.

Seafood recipes of these are delicious! King crab is the most famous among the people which grows up to 5 kilo grams.

There are many kinds that are eaten; some of them are Dungeness crabs, blue crabs or soft-shellcrabs.Between males sometimes fighting takes place in order to win the females.

]]> http://maldivesseafood.com/crustacean/crabs/feed/ http://maldivesseafood.com/types-of-fish/yellowfin-tuna/ http://maldivesseafood.com/types-of-fish/yellowfin-tuna/#comments Sun, 26 Oct 2008 04:16:02 +0000 seamaster http://maldivesseafood.com/?p=23