- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Crustacea
- Class: Malacostraca
- Subclass: Eumalacostraca
- Superorder: Eucarida
- Order: Decapoda
- Suborder: Macrura Reptantia
- Infraorder: Astacidea
- Family: Nephropidae
- Scientific name: Homarus gammarus
- Norwegian: europeisk hummer
Characteristics:
The largest lobsters can reach a length of 50 cm and a weight of more than 7 kg. The biggest crushing claw ever found was calculated to have been from a lobster that probably weighed more than 9 kg. The lobster have two different claws. The purpose of the crushing claw is obvious. The other claw is slimmer and sharper and is an excellent weapon in fights with other animals.
The shell is black with a tint of red or blue. Sometimes the lobsters appears to be almost entirely red or blue.
Habitat:
It is most frequent on depths between 3 and 40 meters. It is most frequent on rocky locations, but can be found as sandy or muddy locations as well, as long as there is a hideout in a crevice or under a stone, where it can stay during daytime. Under shelter of the dark it dares to take a walk in open landscape in hunt for food.
Distribution:
It is registered along the coasts of Europe, from Lofoten, Norway in the north to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea in the south.