How long can a lobster live outside of water?!
How long can a lobster live outside of water?
I have heard anywhere from an hour to a day. I really need to know because i plan to go on a road trip to the coast and pick some up. I dont think it would be wise to keep a large tank in my car for that long, for fear of water damage on the new upholstry, so i would prefer that they stay out of the water.
Answers:
It's best to transport them moist and on ice. The ice puts them in hibernation.
I've carried lobsters from Maine in an ice chest with dry ice to New Orleans on a 6 hour plane flight plus another 12 hours to deliver to my coworkers.
So at least 1 day, easily. If you buy them at a seafood market, they're up on ways to ship.
Also, lobsters are salt water creatures so placing them in water (fresh) will kill them.
From this website: http://www.newmeadowslobster.com/faq.htm...
Q. How long can you keep live lobsters in a refrigerator? How long will they stay alive?
A. Live lobsters can be kept for approximately 12 hours under refrigerated conditions although most will survive for at least 24 hours. Live lobsters cannot be stored in fresh water or enclosed in plastic bags.
Being a former chef from Canada and having cooked about 2000+ lobster in my 20 yr career as a chef, they generally come packed in damp newspaper and sometimes seaweed, I have kept them in the frig for 2-3 days, but you have to monitor them, for some can becaome weak if the are not taken care of.
For home use, if they are kept cool and damp, they can last up to 2-4 days, but not more. I worked for a wholesaler and we would cook the older ones everyday, they were in tanks with salt water.
But cool in a cooler, dry ice is fine if your going a long ways, but the newspapaer and a few bags of ice or ice packs will do fine.