Is lobster considered seafood?

When people eat lobster, they not only like the taste and nutritional value of lobster, but also like the meaning that lobster represents. Especially in China, the popular crayfish has become a synonym for summer. However, the crayfish that are usually eaten in food stalls are made from river shrimps, which makes many people wonder whether lobsters are seafood products.

Is lobster seafood?

1. Saltwater lobster

The lobsters of most interest to humans for consumption are the large species of the genus Homarus, such as the South China Sea lobster (Palinurus versicolor). These lobsters can reach a length of 30 to 45 cm (excluding antennae) and weigh up to 5 kg.

The tail of a live lobster must be slightly curled up. If the tail is straight, the meat will not taste good after cooking. Generally, lobster meat is drier than langoustines. Lobsters will turn red when cooked.

Lobster meat is a delicious food. It can be blanched or baked with cheese. It is a famous Chinese dish. In the coastal areas of southern China, fresh lobsters are often sliced ​​and eaten raw, which is called "sashimi". There is a saying about Cantonese seafood that there are “three ways to eat lobster”, which means that the lobster meat can be eaten raw and cooked, and the lobster head and shell can be used to make porridge. The price of lobster is quite high, and even in coastal cities, the selling price often reaches several thousand yuan.

In addition to lobsters, freshwater crayfish are also used for food. They are generally river fish. Their weight and volume are much smaller than lobsters and their price is relatively cheap.

2. Freshwater Lobster

The first common misunderstanding that needs to be explained is that freshwater crayfish are not lobsters. The scientific name of crayfish is Procambarus clarkii, but it just looks more like a lobster.

Crayfish are native to Louisiana in the southern United States. They are saprophagous animals and entered my country in the early 20th century through biological invasions such as ballast water of foreign cargo ships. It is not true that these creatures were used by the Japanese to clean up corpses. On the other hand, the Japanese at that time raised crayfish to use as bait for bullfrog farming (but some information shows that it was brought to Nanjing, my country by the Japanese in the late 1930s. See "Research on Biological Invasions in China" by Wan Fanghao, Guo Jianying, etc., Science Press). Since natural enemies have not yet formed in our country, after decades of spread, it has become the most common freshwater economic shrimp in the country, widely distributed in provinces and cities in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Crayfish has a high protein content, accounting for about 16% to 20% of the total, and the fat content is less than 0.2%. The content of trace elements such as zinc, iodine, and selenium in shrimp meat is higher than other foods. However, there is a very important nutrient in crayfish that many people may have overlooked, that is astaxanthin, which is mainly found in the roe of the shrimp head and the red substance on the shrimp shell. Most cooking methods may lose it. Because astaxanthin is a very strong antioxidant, it is also easily oxidized. In addition, crayfish can also be used as medicine to reduce phlegm and relieve cough, and promote muscle healing of wounds after surgery.

After reading such a detailed introduction above, I believe you must have no doubts about whether lobster is seafood! These two types of lobsters are very different depending on their origin, and their nutritional values ​​are also different. But their common feature is that they are high in protein, which is good for human health!