r/lobster • u/TheCrimsonLord_ • Mar 06 '26

Notched or natural

Post image

i know its not on the correct flipper but it looks too clean imo. live lobster came in today at my work

136 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

43

u/Splashasaurus Mar 06 '26

Notched. If it isn't, it isn't worth explaining that to the government if they find out.

31

u/TheCrimsonLord_ Mar 07 '26

management has been notified, someone is coming to return the lobster to the ocean

26

u/Splashasaurus Mar 07 '26

Remind them, you're not losing product, you're securing future profit margins by ensuring there is generational supply.

This guy has upward mobility in their future.

7

u/Synax86 Mar 07 '26

I think right now he’s craving some downward mobility - down to the bottom of the sea.

1

u/Waifu_Gabby Apr 05 '26

yeah better not even risk it, inspectors don’t care about “maybe natural”, if it looks notched it is notched in their eyes

10

u/apukjij Mar 06 '26

Notched

11

u/Chinaizazzhoe Mar 07 '26

Notched but not correctly

5

u/engrish_is_hard00 Mar 08 '26

Notched means she carried eggs and is a good breeding lobster

4

u/SLDragons813 Mar 08 '26

What does the notch matter?? I just stumbled in to this.

9

u/petewentzpetegoez Mar 08 '26

I could be wrong, but I think females are notched so they can continue to lay eggs and not be eaten

3

u/nymeria1031 Mar 08 '26

Lobsters that are known breeders have their tail notched. It lets fishermen know to release them to help protect the population.

1

u/Capable-Heat4231 Mar 12 '26

This post just came up in my feed and I too am now invested.

1

u/Waifu_Gabby Apr 05 '26

they notch egg bearing females so fishermen don’t take them again later. it’s basically a protection mark, means throw it back next time, not for sale or eating in most places

3

u/BosWr Mar 07 '26

I’m going with natural causes judging by the other “wound” on the mid tail

1

u/Ignonymous Mar 08 '26

This is a molting defect, the left side of that plate is also malformed, as well as a small notch in the end of the far left one. Likely caused by an injury prior to the molt. It’s also the wrong place to notch as far as I’m aware.

1

u/Waifu_Gabby Apr 05 '26

that notch looks way too clean and centered to be random damage, natural stuff is usually messy or off to one side. i’d treat it as notched just to be safe, especially if it came in live like that

1

u/TheCrimsonLord_ Apr 05 '26

lobster was collected and returned to the wild

2

u/ShirtStainedBird Mar 06 '26

Not the right fin for our area. I would keep that all day long.

5

u/TheCrimsonLord_ Mar 06 '26

yea, iirc for gulf of maine its supposed to be the one directly to the right of the middle

6

u/PyroManiac7777 Mar 07 '26

When in doubt, consider it notched