Scientists Say Lobsters Don’t Die of Old Age and Continue Growing Their Entire Lives — But Here’s What Eventually Kills Them

Lobsters are sea creatures known as crustaceans and are closely related to crabs and barnacles. They are characterized by having a hard exoskeleton, segmented bodies, and the inability to die of old age. Unlike the traditional way that humans and other animals grow old, by their bodies deteriorating, also known as senescence, lobsters usually die of other causes.

Lobsters Keep Growing (But Not Forever)

Lobsters can keep on growing throughout their lifetime because they need to keep on shedding and replacing their shell by rebuilding them, which takes a lot of energy. They also produce a lot of telomerase, the enzyme that helps repair DNA, so their bodies do not age in the same way that humans do.

However, they are not immortal beings that will continue to grow until they become gigantic. They are living things that need energy to survive. Just like us, humans, lobsters need to eat and drink.

Lobsters are one of the animals that go through molting. It means they shed their outer layer for a variety of reasons, with the leading ones being that they have outgrown it or it was damaged. The bigger the lobsters are, the less often they go through molts, but each process takes more energy than the last one, until eventually, they can’t handle it anymore. That is the leading cause of their death.

Read more: UNSW Sydney

They Don’t ‘Grow Old’—They Melt

Can Lobsters Really Not Die of Old Age?

Lobsters may not age the same way humans do, but they are living beings that also have wear and tear on their physical bodies. Their muscles and organs can keep on growing and working extra because of the production of the telomerase enzyme. This helps them to keep on getting bigger and stay strong for much longer compared to other animals.

However, as said, the molting process when they get bigger gets too exhausting that it becomes their leading cause of death. Their shells also catch some bacteria that can give them diseases. In other words, for them to continue surviving, they need a lot of energy. And the bigger they become over time, the higher the energy required, until the cost becomes too high, they can’t afford it anymore. This leads to death by exhaustion, usually in the process of molting.

Not Immortal—Just Tough

Because they do not age the same way humans do, lobsters have gained the reputation for being immortal, but even immortality comes with a cost that no one can afford. Not aging is not the same as living forever, and they also face the same dangers other animals face, such as predation, diseases, and shell or organ failures.

So, to the people asking if lobsters are immortal or theoretically capable of becoming one, the short scientific answer is no. Simply because it is a part of their lives to molt and change shells, but they will always reach a point where they can’t do that anymore, leading to their death.

Read more: National History Museum

Are Lobsters Immortal?

Author's Final Thoughts

Studying lobsters shows how much growing animals control their DNA repairs and bodily changes to adapt to their survival needs. The use of the telomerase enzyme might even give us humans some clues on how to counter aging.

However, this enzyme also plays a crucial role in cancer growth and spreading. Scientists must be twice as cautious to be able to use them in any type of medicine or experimentation in the future. To conclude, lobsters are not immortal, but they live long and strong in their own ways, and we can learn a lot from them.

Read more: Scientists Reveal that Humanity Has Only Explored 0.001% of the Seafloor