LOVE AMONG LOBSTERS

LOVE AMONG LOBSTERS

Unique among marine crustaceans and, in turn, among lobsters—specifically Nephropidae, a clawed lobster, as opposed to lesser and in some cases only distantly related species such as Spiny lobsters—the Maine lobster, an individual nearly as fragmented as this sentence and those that follow, is singularly remarkable when passion calls.  Like many of us, a young male passes agonizing years of loneliness and confusion until a female finally releases her pheromone outside his apartment signaling an interest not unlike his own, long neglected but hardly dormant.  Intent on consummating this, perhaps the only, opportunity for an amorous  experience—not to be confused with a meaningful relationship, although that consequence, subject to interpretation, is often unavoidable—the young male, and this is what is so remarkable, within seconds grows an large set of, well—horny appendages—and wields them in defense of his beloved, turning back competitors until both the young couple and the dust have settled and a routine, familiar to some of us, develops wherein he discovers it was, after all, a partnership he was looking for and the short-lived antlers, having outgrown, as it were, their usefulness, are shed outside his apartment as a signal to others that a contented male lives within and requires no further enticement.