This animal has 10 legs that help it stay alive whether it’s crawling on the ocean floor or in a dusty desert. Most of the time, the front legs have grasping pinchers on them, and the other eight legs have special feet that help them grip the rough surface. Ten-legged animals belong exclusively to the arthropod group, which contains crustaceans and insects. Youll find most — but not all — 10-legged animals living in the sea.
Put your hand anywhere near a crab and chances are youll get pinched. Crabs can pinch so hard that theyve been known to lose their claws rather than let go. Crabs use these strong pinchers to protect themselves or grab their prey. Sometimes they use them to help them move around among rocks on the ocean floor. Blue crabs have special paddle-like adaptions on their last pair of legs to help them swim.
Lobsters are instantly recognizable by their large front claws and hard shell. But if you look past those standout features, you may notice that lobsters actually have multiple pairs of smaller legs used for walking along the seafloor So exactly how many legs does a lobster have in total?
The quick answer is that most lobsters have 10 legs – 2 large front claws and 8 smaller walking legs. However, some types of lobsters may have fewer legs. To understand why, we need to take a deeper dive into lobster anatomy and classification.
In this article we’ll explore
- The different types of lobsters and how their leg counts vary
- The anatomy and function of a lobster’s legs and claws
- Why lobster leg illustrations are often inaccurate
- Frequently asked questions about lobster legs
Let’s get started on decoding the legginess of these fascinating crustaceans!
Types of Lobsters and Their Number of Legs
There are over 40 species of clawed lobsters, but they fall into three major groups:
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Clawed lobsters – The most common type, including the American lobster and European lobster. They have 10 total legs – 2 big front claws for hunting and defense plus 4 pairs of smaller walking legs.
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Spiny lobsters – Found in warm waters and lacking the large claws. They have 8 walking legs plus 2 antennae, for 10 appendages.
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Squat lobsters – Shrimp-like in appearance with a squat, compressed carapace. They have 8 total legs – 6 walking legs and 2 small claws.
So the number of legs on a lobster can range from 8-10 depending on the type. But the classic lobsters we most picture have 10 legs.
Lobster Leg Anatomy and Function
Let’s take a closer look at how lobsters use their various legs:
Front Claws
The frontmost legs are enlarged into claws for hunting, defense, and asserting dominance. Key features:
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Crusher claw – The larger claw specialized for crushing and cutting up prey. It has rounded teeth for cracking hard shells.
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Pincer claw – The smaller, sharper claw optimized for gripping prey. It has pointed teeth and is very dexterous.
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Knuckles – The joints where the claws connect to the body. Considered the tastiest part of the lobster to eat!
Walking Legs
Behind the claws are 4 pairs of thin, jointed walking legs:
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First 2 pairs – The first walking legs double as “mouth parts” with chemosensory hairs to taste food and pass it to the mouth.
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Last 2 pairs – Mostly used for locomotion – walking, pushing off, anchoring.
Tail
The powerful tail provides thrust for swimming via rapid flexion of the tail fan, with the telson spine adding leverage.
Why Lobster Leg Illustrations Are Often Wrong
Given their importance to locomotion and feeding, you’d think illustrators would take care to get lobster legs right. Yet lobster drawings frequently show only 8 legs, omitting the front claws. Even the Red Lobster logo is anatomically incorrect!
Several factors cause this inaccuracy:
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Claws are bigger and overshadow the walking legs.
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Lobsters are often shown in side profile, hiding some legs.
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Illustrating all 10 legs accurately is technically challenging.
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People assume crabs and lobsters have the same # of legs due to their similarities.
Lobster leg activists are working to correct these erroneous lobster images through education. While the claw overshadowing may be unavoidable, illustrators should take care to show the proper count of 10 legs.
Frequently Asked Questions About Lobster Legs
Here are answers to some common lobster leg questions:
How many legs do lobsters use for walking?
Lobsters have 4 pairs of walking legs, for a total of 8 legs devoted to locomotion.
Do lobsters’ legs grow back if lost?
Yes – lobsters can regenerate lost legs over a series of molts. Claws may take up to 5 years to fully regrow.
What are the names of a lobster’s front claws?
The crusher claw and pincer claw. The crusher is larger and used for crushing, while the pincer grips prey.
Do all lobsters have 10 legs?
No – spiny lobsters have 8 legs plus 2 antennae, while squat lobsters have 8 total. But clawed lobsters have 10.
How many legs does a crab have?
Crabs are closely related to lobsters and also have 10 legs – their front 2 legs adapted as claws, with 4 pairs of walking legs behind.
Takeaway: Lobsters Can Have 8, But Usually 10 Legs
While their massive claws get all the attention, lobsters wouldn’t be able to scuttle along the seafloor without those 8 additional walking legs. Next time you see an image of a lobster, take a moment to count the legs and appreciate the anatomical diversity of these fascinating decapod crustaceans.
Red as a Lobster
Lobsters are one of the most commonly caught seafood animals, but only a few of the hundreds of species are valuable for business. Like crabs, some lobster species, like the American lobster, have claws on their front legs that help them catch prey and defend themselves. Other species — like rock lobsters — have 10 legs without the special adaptation. Lobsters eat mollusks, fish, plants, algae and other matter they find on the ocean floor. Crayfish are close cousins of the lobster that dwell in freshwater rivers and lakes.
Who Ya Callin’ Shrimp?
Like lobsters and crayfish, shrimp are decapods that feed off the bottom of their environment. Shrimp are born in the ocean and then move to rivers and creeks to feed in the wet marshes until they are fully grown. In late summer, the fully grown shrimp moves on to live in estuaries and sounds again before going back to the ocean to spawn. The shrimp eat anything available in their environments, including worms, dead fish or other shrimp.