Title: How large can lobsters grow? Big! But no one knows how big. - CSMonitor.com
Headings: How large can lobsters grow? Big! But no one knows how big.
How large can lobsters grow? Big! But no one knows how big.
Lobsters can grow to be four feet long, 40 pounds, and maybe 100 years old – maybe even more.
June 16, 2011

Content: Lobsters, he says, seem to never stop growing. Their crustacean cousins, crabs, reach a point at which the carapace (the outer shell) simply will not grow any larger. But nature never hemmed in lobsters. "They keep on growing," says Dr. Atema. " You can end up with very, very large lobsters." How large? Scientists have no idea. Any lobster that found its way to a dinner plate legally needs to have a carapace of about three inches or longer. Critters that length are often a little heavier than one pound and between 5 and 7 years old. Twenty- to 40-pound catches could easily be more than 50 years old.