Lobster Temporal range: Valanginian–Recent PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
American lobster, Homarus americanus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Crustacea
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Suborder:	Pleocyemata
Infraorder:	Astacidea
Family:	Nephropidae Dana, 1852
Genera [1]
Acanthacaris Bate, 1888 Eunephrops Smith, 1885 Homarinus Kornfield, Williams & Steneck, 1995 Homarus Weber, 1795 Hoploparia † M’Coy, 1849 Jagtia † Tshudy & Sorhannus, 2000 Metanephrops Jenkins, 1972 Nephropides Manning, 1969 Nephrops Leach, 1814 Nephropsis Wood-Mason, 1873 Oncopareia † Bosquet, 1854 Palaeonephrops † Mertin, 1941 Paraclythia † Fritsch & Kafka, 1887 Pseudohomarus † van Hoepen, 1962 Thaumastocheles Wood-Mason, 1874 Thaumastochelopsis Bruce, 1988 Thymopides Burukovsky & Averin, 1977 Thymops Holthuis, 1974 Thymopsis Holthuis, 1974

Clawed lobsters comprise a family (Nephropidae, sometimes also Homaridae) of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.^[2]

Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most often associated with the name. Clawed lobsters are not closely related to spiny lobsters or slipper lobsters, which have no claws (chelae), or squat lobsters. The closest relatives of clawed lobsters are the reef lobsters and the three families of freshwater crayfish.

Evolution[link]

The fossil record of clawed lobsters extends back at least to the Valanginian Age of the Cretaceous.^[3]

Description[link]

Lobsters are invertebrates with a hard protective exoskeleton. Like most arthropods, lobsters must molt in order to grow, which leaves them vulnerable. During the molting process, several species change color. Lobsters have 10 walking legs; the front three pairs bear claws, the first of which are larger than the others.^[4] Although, like most other arthropods, lobsters are largely bilaterally symmetrical, they often possess unequal, specialized claws, like the king crab.

Lobster anatomy includes the cephalothorax which fuses the head and the thorax, both of which are covered by a chitinous carapace, and the abdomen. The lobster's head bears antennae, antennules, mandibles, the first and second maxillae, and the first, second, and third maxillipeds. Because lobsters live in a murky environment at the bottom of the ocean, they mostly use their antennae as sensors. The lobster eye has a reflective structure above a convex retina. In contrast, most complex eyes use refractive ray concentrators (lenses) and a concave retina.^[5] The abdomen includes swimmerets and its tail is composed of uropods and the telson.

Lobsters, like snails and spiders, have blue blood due to the presence of haemocyanin which contains copper^[6] (in contrast, vertebrates and many other animals have red blood from iron-rich haemoglobin). Lobsters possess a green hepatopancreas, called the tomalley by chefs, which functions as the animal's liver and pancreas.^[7]

In general, lobsters are 25–50 centimetres (10–20 in) long, and move by slowly walking on the sea floor. However, when they flee, they swim backwards quickly by curling and uncurling their abdomen. A speed of 5 metres per second (11 mph) has been recorded.^[8] This is known as the caridoid escape reaction.

Longevity[link]

Recent research suggests that lobsters may not slow down, weaken, or lose fertility with age. In fact, older lobsters are more fertile than younger lobsters. This longevity may be due to telomerase, an enzyme that repairs DNA sequences of the form "TTAGGG."^[9] This sequence, repeated hundreds of times, occurs at the ends of chromosomes, which are referred to as the telomeres.^[10][11] It has been argued that lobsters may exhibit negligible senescence and some scientists have claimed that they could effectively live indefinitely, barring injury, disease, capture, etc.^[12] Their longevity allows them to reach impressive sizes. According to the Guinness World Records, the largest lobster was caught in Nova Scotia, Canada, and weighed 20.15 kilograms (44.4 lb).^[13][14]

[edit] Symbion

Animals of the genus Symbion, the only member of the animal phylum Cycliophora, live exclusively on lobster gills and mouthparts.^[15]

Ecology[link]

Lobsters are found in all oceans. They live on rocky, sandy, or muddy bottoms from the shoreline to beyond the edge of the continental shelf. They generally live singly in crevices or in burrows under rocks.

Lobsters are omnivores and typically eat live prey such as fish, mollusks, other crustaceans, worms, and some plant life. They scavenge if necessary, and may resort to cannibalism in captivity; however, this has not been observed in the wild. Although lobster skin has been found in lobster stomachs, this is because lobsters eat their shed skin after molting.^[16]

Gastronomy[link]

Steamed whole lobster, with claws cracked and tail split File:Lobster served in Japan in creamy butter sauce.jpg Japanese lobster served in butter sauce

Lobster recipes include Lobster Newberg and Lobster Thermidor. Lobster is used in soup, bisque, lobster rolls, and cappon magro. Lobster meat may be dipped in clarified butter, resulting in a sweetened flavour.

Cooks boil or steam live lobsters. The lobster cooks for seven minutes for the first pound and three minutes for each additional pound.^[17]

According to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the mean level of mercury in American lobster is 0.31 ppm.^[18]

History[link]

In North America, the American lobster did not achieve popularity until the mid-19th century, when New Yorkers and Bostonians developed a taste for it, and commercial lobster fisheries only flourished after the development of the lobster smack.^[19] Prior to this time, lobster was considered a mark of poverty or as a food for indentured servants or lower members of society in Maine, Massachusetts and the Canadian Maritimes, and servants specified in employment agreements that they would not eat lobster more than twice per week.^[20] American lobster was initially deemed worthy only of being used as fertilizer or fish bait, and it was not until well into the twentieth century that it was viewed as more than a low-priced canned staple food.^[21]

Caught lobsters are graded as new-shell, hard-shell and old-shell and, because lobsters that have recently shed their shells are the most delicate, there is an inverse relationship between the price of American lobster and its flavor. New-shell lobsters have paper-thin shells and a worse meat-to-shell ratio, but what meat exists is very sweet. However, the lobsters are so delicate that even transport to Boston almost kills them, making the market for new-shell lobsters strictly local to the fishing towns where they are offloaded. Hard-shell lobsters with firm shells but with less sweet meat can survive shipping to Boston, New York and even Los Angeles so they command a higher price than new-shell lobsters. Meanwhile, old-shell lobsters, which have not shed since the previous season and have a coarser flavor, can be air-shipped anywhere in the world and arrive alive, making them the most expensive. One seafood guide notes that an eight dollar lobster dinner at a restaurant overlooking fishing piers in Maine is consistently delicious, while "the eighty-dollar lobster in a three-star Paris restaurant is apt to be as much about presentation as flavor".^[21]

Animal welfare issues[link]

The most common way of killing a lobster is by placing it live in boiling water (with or without spending a period of time in a freezer) or by splitting it by severing the body in half lengthwise. Lobsters may also be killed or rendered insensate immediately before boiling through a stab into the brain, in the belief that this will stop suffering. However, a lobster's brain operates from not one but several ganglia and disabling only the frontal ganglion does not usually result in death or unconsciousness.^[11] The boiling method is illegal in some places, such as in Reggio Emilia, Italy, where offenders face fines of up to €495.^[22]

Fishery and aquaculture[link]

Lobsters are caught using baited, one-way traps with a color-coded marker buoy to mark cages. Lobster is fished in water between 1 and 500 fathoms (2 and 900 m), although some lobsters live at 2,000 fathoms (3,700 m). Cages are of plastic-coated galvanized steel or wood. A lobster fisher may tend as many as 2,000 traps. Around the year 2000, due to overfishing and high demand, lobster aquaculture expanded.^[23] As of 2008, no lobster aquaculture operation had achieved commercial success, due mainly to the fact that lobsters eat each other (cannibalism) and the slow growth of the species; these two problems make it difficult to make lobster aquaculture profitable.^[24] The New England Aquarium nonetheless maintains a year-round production facility of American lobster, and further research is being conducted.^[25]

Species[link]

Examples of Nephropidae

Acanthacaris tenuimana

Metanephrops japonicus

Nephropsis rosea

This list contains all extant species in the family Nephropidae:^[26]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nephropidae

Crustaceans portal

• Lipke Holthuis (1991). Marine Lobsters of the World. Food and Agriculture Organization. http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/bis/lobsters.php?menuentry=inleiding. 
• Atlantic Veterinary College Lobster Science Centre

v t e Genera of Nephropidae (clawed lobsters) Kingdom Animalia · Phylum Arthropoda · Subphylum Crustacea · Order Decapoda · Infraorder Astacidea · Family Nephropidae Acanthacaris (2 extant spp.) · Dinochelus (1 extant sp.) · Eunephrops · Homarinus (1 extant sp.) · Homarus (2 extant spp.) · Hoploparia † · Jagtia † · Metanephrops (18 extant spp.) · Nephropides (1 extant sp.) · Nephrops (1 extant sp.) · Nephropsis (15 extant spp.) · Oncopareia † · Palaeonephrops † · Paraclythia † · Pseudohomarus † · Thaumastocheles (3 extant spp.) · Thaumastochelopsis (2 extant spp.) · Thymopides (2 extant spp.) · Thymops (1 extant sp.) · Thymopsis (1 extant sp.)

v t e Principal commercial fishery species groups Wild Large pelagic fish Mackerel Salmon Shark Swordfish Tuna albacore bigeye Atlantic bluefin Pacific bluefin southern bluefin skipjack yellowfin Forage fish Anchovy Capelin Herring Ilish Menhaden Sardines Shad Demersal fish Catfish Cod Atlantic Pacific Flatfish flounder halibut plaice sole turbot Haddock Mullet Orange roughy Pollock Smelt-whitings Toothfish Freshwater fish Carp Sturgeon Tilapia Trout Other wild fish Eel Whitebait more... Crustaceans Crab Krill Lobster Shrimp and prawn more... Molluscs Abalone Mussels Octopus Oysters Scallops Squid more... Echinoderms Sea cucumbers Sea urchin more... Farmed Carp bighead common crucian grass silver Catfish Freshwater prawns Mussels Oysters Salmon Atlantic salmon trout coho chinook Scallops Seaweed Shrimp Tilapia Commercial fishing World fish production Fishing topics Fisheries glossary

Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke of Austria-Este
Reign	1889–1914
Predecessor	Francis II As Archduke of Austria-Este Also Francis V as Duke of Modena
Successor	Charles
Spouse	Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg
Issue
Princess Sophie von Hohenberg Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg Prince Ernst von Hohenberg
House	House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Father	Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria
Mother	Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
Born	(1863-12-18)18 December 1863 Graz, Austrian Empire
Died	28 June 1914(1914-06-28) (aged 50) Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary
Signature
Religion	Roman Catholic

Monarchical styles of Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este
Reference style	His Imperial and Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Imperial and Royal Highness
Alternative style	Sir

Archduke Franz Ferdinand (right) with his family

Franz Ferdinand (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne.^[1] His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia. This caused the Central Powers (including Germany and Austria-Hungary) and the Allies of World War I (countries allied with Serbia) to declare war on each other, starting World War I.^[2][3][4]

He was born in Graz, Austria, the eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria (younger brother of Franz Joseph and Maximilian) and of his second wife, Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. When he was only twelve years old, his cousin Duke Francis V of Modena died, naming Franz Ferdinand his heir on condition that he add the name Este to his own. Franz Ferdinand thus became one of the wealthiest men in Austria.

Heir presumptive[link]

In 1889, Franz Ferdinand's life changed dramatically. His cousin Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide at his hunting lodge in Mayerling,^[5] leaving Franz Ferdinand's father, Archduke Karl Ludwig, as first in line to the throne. However, his father died of typhoid fever after the Crown Prince's death.^[6] Henceforth, Franz Ferdinand was groomed to succeed. Despite this burden, he did manage to find time for travel and personal pursuits - for example, the time he spent hunting kangaroos and emus in Australia in 1893,^[7] and the return trip to Austria sailing across the Pacific on the RMS Empress of China from Yokohama to Vancouver.^[8]

Military career[link]

Franz Ferdinand, like most males in the ruling Habsburg line, entered the army from a young age. He was frequently and rapidly promoted, given the rank of lieutenant at age fourteen, captain at twenty-two, colonel at twenty-seven, and major general at thirty-one.^[9] While never receiving formal staff training, he was considered eligible for command and at one point briefly led the primarily Hungarian 9th Hussar Regiment.^[10] In 1898 he was given a commission "at the special disposition of His Majesty" to make inquiries into all aspects of the military services and military agencies were commanded to share their papers with him.^[11]

He exerted influence on the armed forces even when he did not hold a specific command through a military chancery that produced and received documents and papers on military affairs. This was headed by Alexander Brosch von Aarenau and eventually employed a staff of sixteen.^[11].

Franz in 1913, as heir-presumptive to the elderly emperor, had been appointed inspector general of all the armed forces of Austria-Hungary (Generalinspektor der gesamten bewaffneten Macht), a position superior to that previously held by Archduke Albrecht and including presumed command in wartime.^[12]

Marriage and family[link]

In 1894 Franz Ferdinand met Countess Sophie Chotek at a ball in Prague. To be an eligible marriage partner for a member of the Imperial House of Habsburg, one had to be a member of one of the reigning or formerly reigning dynasties of Europe. The Choteks were not one of these families, although they did include among their ancestors, in the female line, princes of Baden, Hohenzollern-Hechingen, and Liechtenstein. One of Sophie's direct ancestors was Albert IV, Count of Habsburg; she was descended from Elisabeth of Habsburg, a sister of King Rudolph I of Germany. Franz Ferdinand was a descendant of King Rudolph I. Sophie was a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, wife of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen. Franz Ferdinand began to visit Archduke Friedrich's villa in Pressburg (now Bratislava). Sophie wrote to Franz Ferdinand during his convalescence from tuberculosis on the island of Lošinj in the Adriatic. They kept their relationship a secret for more than two years.^{[citation needed]}

Deeply in love, Franz Ferdinand refused to consider marrying anyone else. Pope Leo XIII, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and the German Emperor Wilhelm II all made representations on his behalf to Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, arguing that the disagreement between Franz Joseph and Franz Ferdinand was undermining the stability of the monarchy.^{[citation needed]}

Finally, in 1899, Emperor Franz Joseph agreed to permit Franz Ferdinand to marry Sophie, on condition that the marriage would be morganatic and that their descendants would not have succession rights to the throne.^[5] Sophie would not share her husband's rank, title, precedence, or privileges; as such, she would not normally appear in public beside him. She would not be allowed to ride in the royal carriage or sit in the royal box.^{[citation needed]}

The wedding took place on 1 July 1900, at Reichstadt (now Zákupy) in Bohemia; Franz Joseph did not attend the affair, nor did any archduke including Franz Ferdinand's brothers.^[5] The only members of the imperial family who were present were Franz Ferdinand's stepmother, Princess Maria Theresa of Braganza, and her two daughters. Upon the marriage, Sophie was given the title "Princess of Hohenberg" (Fürstin von Hohenberg) with the style "Her Serene Highness" (Ihre Durchlaucht). In 1909, she was given the more senior title "Duchess of Hohenberg" (Herzogin von Hohenberg) with the style "Her Highness" (Ihre Hoheit). This raised her status considerably, but she still yielded precedence at court to all the archduchesses. Whenever a function required the couple to gather with the other members of royalty, Sophie was forced to stand far down the line of importance, separated from her husband.^{[citation needed]}

Franz Ferdinand's children were:

• Princess Sophie von Hohenberg (1901–1990), married Count Friedrich von Nostitz-Rieneck (1891–1973)
• Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg (1902–1962), married Countess Elisabeth von Waldburg zu Wolfegg und Waldsee (1904–1993)
• Prince Ernst von Hohenberg (1904–1954), married Marie-Therese Wood (1910–1985)

Character[link]

The German historian Michael Freund described Franz Ferdinand as "a man of uninspired energy, dark in appearance and emotion, who radiated an aura of strangeness and cast a shadow of violence and recklessness ... a true personality amidst the amiable inanity that characterized Austrian society at this time."^[13] As his sometime admirer Karl Kraus put it, "he was not one who would greet you ... he felt no compulsion to reach out for the unexplored region which the Viennese call their heart."^[14] His relations with Emperor Franz Joseph were tense; the emperor's personal servant recalled in his memoirs that "thunder and lightning always raged when they had their discussions."^[15] The commentaries and orders which the heir to the throne wrote as margin notes to the documents of the Imperial central commission for architectural conservation (where he was Protector) reveal what can be described as "choleric conservativism."^[16]

Franz Ferdinand had a fondness for trophy hunting that was excessive even by the standards of European nobility of this time.^[17] In his diaries he kept track of an estimated 300,000 game kills, 5,000 of which were deer. Approximately 100,000 trophies were on exhibit at his Bohemian castle at Konopiště,^[18][19] which he also stuffed with various antiquities, his other great passion.^[20]

Political views[link]

Map of the federalization of Austria-Hungary planned by Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the member states with separate governments

Historians have disagreed on how to characterize the political philosophies of Franz Ferdinand, some attributing generally liberal views on the empire's nationalities while others have emphasized his dynastic centralism, Catholic conservatism, and tendency to clash with other leaders.^[9] He advocated granting greater autonomy to ethnic groups within the Empire and addressing their grievances, especially the Czechs in Bohemia and the Yugoslavic peoples in Croatia and Bosnia, who had been left out of the Austro-Hungarian compromise of 1867.^[21] Yet his feelings towards the Hungarians were less generous; he regarded Magyar nationalism as a revolutionary threat to the Habsburg dynasty and reportedly became angry when officers of the 9th Hussars Regiment (which he commanded) spoke Magyar in his presence - despite the fact that it was the official regimental language.^[10] He further regarded the Hungarian branch of the Dual Monarchy's army, the Honvédség, as an unreliable and potentially threatening force within the empire, complaining at the Hungarians' failure to provide funds for the joint army^[22] and opposing the formation of artillery units within the Hungarian forces.^[23]

He also advocated a careful approach towards Serbia - repeatedly locking horns with Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Vienna's hard-line Chief of the General Staff, warning that harsh treatment of Serbia would bring Austria-Hungary into open conflict with Russia, to the ruin of both Empires.

He was disappointed when Austria-Hungary failed to act as a Great Power, such as during the Boxer Rebellion; in 1900 other nations, including, in his description, "dwarf states like Belgium and Portugal",^[24] sent troops to protect Westerners and punish the Chinese, but Austria-Hungary did not.

Franz Ferdinand was a prominent and influential supporter of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in a time when sea power was not a priority in Austrian foreign policy and the Navy was relatively little known and supported by the public. After his assassination in 1914, the Navy honoured Franz Ferdinand and his wife with a lying in state aboard the SMS Viribus Unitis.

Assassination[link]

The 1911 Gräf & Stift Bois de Boulogne tourer in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were riding at the time of their assassination is now located in Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna

Franz Ferdinand's blood-stained uniform

The Latin Bridge near the assassination site

Austria-Hungary commemorative postage stamp

On Sunday, 28 June 1914, at approximately 10:45 am, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were killed in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Gavrilo Princip, 19 at the time, a member of Young Bosnia and one of a group of assassins organized by the Black Hand.^[4] The event led to a chain of events that eventually triggered World War I.

The couple had previously been attacked when a grenade was thrown at their car. Ferdinand deflected the grenade and it detonated far behind them. He is known to have shouted in anger to local officials, "So you welcome your guests with bombs?!"^[25]

The royal couple insisted on seeing all those injured at the hospital. After travelling there, Franz and Sophie decided to go to the palace, but their driver took a wrong turn onto a side street, where Princip spotted them.^[25] As the car was backing up, Princip approached and shot Sophie in the abdomen and Franz Ferdinand in the jugular. He was still alive when witnesses arrived to render aid.^[4] His dying words to Sophie were, 'Don't die darling, live for our children.'^[25] Princip had used the Browning .32 ACP cartridge,^[26][27][28] a relatively low-power round, and a pocket-sized FN model 1910 pistol.^[29] The archduke's aides attempted to undo his coat but realized they needed scissors to cut it open. It was too late; he died within minutes. Sophie also died on route to the hospital.^[30]

A detailed account of the shooting can be found in Sarajevo by Joachim Remak:^[31]

One bullet pierced Franz Ferdinand's neck while the other pierced Sophie's abdomen. ... As the car was reversing (to go back to the Governor's residence because the entourage thought the Imperial couple were unhurt) a thin streak of blood shot from the Archduke's mouth onto Count Harrach's right cheek (he was standing on the car's running board). Harrach drew out a handkerchief to still the gushing blood. The Duchess, seeing this, called: "For Heaven's sake! What happened to you?" and sank from her seat, her face falling between her husband's knees.

Harrach and Potoriek ... thought she had fainted ... only her husband seemed to have an instinct for what was happening. Turning to his wife despite the bullet in his neck, Franz Ferdinand pleaded: "Sopherl! Sopherl! Sterbe nicht! Bleibe am Leben für unsere Kinder! - Sophie dear! Don't die! Stay alive for our children!". Having said this, he seemed to sag down himself. His plumed hat ... fell off; many of its green feathers were found all over the car floor. Count Harrach seized the Archduke by the uniform collar to hold him up. He asked "Leiden Eure Kaiserliche Hoheit sehr? - Is Your Imperial Highness suffering very badly?" "Es ist nichts - It is nothing" said the Archduke in a weak but audible voice. He seemed to be losing consciousness during his last few minutes, but, his voice growing steadily weaker, he repeated the phrase perhaps six or seven times more.

A rattle began to issue from his throat, which subsided as the car drew in front of the Konak bersibin (Town Hall). Despite several doctors' efforts, the Archduke died shortly after being carried into the building while his beloved wife was almost certainly dead from internal bleeding before the motorcade reached the Konak.

The assassinations, along with the arms race, nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and the alliance system all contributed to the origins of World War I, which began less than two months after Franz Ferdinand's death, with Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia.^[32] The assassination of Ferdinand is considered the most immediate cause of World War I.^[33]

Franz Ferdinand is interred with his wife Sophie in Artstetten Castle, Austria.

Present-day commemorations[link]

Monogram

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his Castle of Artstetten were selected as a main motif for the Austrian 10 euro The Castle of Artstetten commemorative coin, minted on 13 October 2004. The reverse shows the entrance to the crypt of the Hohenberg family. There are two portraits below, showing Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg.

See also[link]

• List of heirs to the Austrian throne
• Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

Ancestry[link]