Efficient Transportation Of Live Lobster

By Jeffrey Murphy


Many people find a lobster that is cooked when fresh to be a delicacy. Cooking it when it is alive happens to be one of many ways it is prepared best. They, however, pose a great challenge when it comes to transporting them as they are adapted to cold salty water environments. It is not easy to create a similar environment in your transporting equipment. It therefore takes some planning in order to deliver a live lobster at your home.

To become successful in transporting these creatures, whether from a fish market or from a grocery store, one has to do proper planning. You should ensure a moist as well as cool surrounding for them at all times, when moving them to your place of residence. One of the biggest reasons for many of them making it through the journey is oxygen deprivation. Keeping them cool therefore makes use oxygen in reduced amounts.

Oxygen consumption is at a high rate with the lobsters in environments of high temperatures. This then puts them at a death risk. Moisture is therefore quite essential for them breathing as we all know they use gills. When handled properly, it becomes easy to keep a hard-shelled lobster breathing for a maximum period of five days, outside water.

For one to keep lobsters moist at all times, he or she does not have to keep them submerged. They actually survive better during transportation when not placed in water. Having them packed directly in dry ice is dangerous and not advisable. This has serious repercussions when the ice melts. They will swell and eventually burst when in fresh. They will also asphyxiate in dry ice as it has great amounts of carbon dioxide.

Shipping in seawater is not ideal, not unless the tank is outfitted with equipment that provide aeration. Lack of aeration leads to a lobster using up the dissolved oxygen in a faster rate, which leads to suffocation. Use of refrigerated trucks are ideal as they maintain the right temperature and moisture.

There is importance in keeping lobsters cool before packing them so as to attain perfect results. Acclimatization is the reason for this, since they get moved from warm temperatures to cold ones. Even though the lobsters are believed to be able to handle warm to cold temperatures changes well, rapid changes in temperature will definitely affect them.

It is also advised not to feed them for two or three days before shipping them. They use more oxygen and have a high chance of vomiting when transported on full stomach. One should also ensure that he or she packs them closely, though they should not be too tight as their shells might break during transportation.

Boiling them alive immediately is important as they go bad quickly. However, one can preheat then freeze them. This will help them stay fresh for about four days. Take care when preparing preserved ones so as not to overcook and end up hardening them.




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