Are Lobsters And Scorpions Related? (Explained)

When we look at lobsters and scorpions, we might notice some similarities in their appearance. They have claws, flexible tails, and many walking legs. Therefore, if you wonder if lobsters and scorpions are related, in this article, we’ll talk all about that. However, let’s begin with a quick answer:

Lobsters and scorpions are related as they belong to the same phylum Arthropoda. However, their relationship is distant because they’re divided into distinct subphyla and classes. Lobsters belong to the subphylum Crustacea (crustaceans), and scorpions to Arachnida (arachnids).

However, this certainly doesn’t tell the whole story. Below I’ll explain more about the lobster and scorpion relationship and what are the main differences and similarities between them. Furthermore, I’ll explain more about what kind of animals lobsters actually are. Read on!

The differences between lobsters and scorpions

There are a few major distinguishing features between lobsters and scorpions, as they don’t even belong to the same subphylum and class. Below you can read about the biggest differences between them.

Classification

Animal kingdom classification is a system that helps us to understand how all living organisms are related. This system divides the animal kingdom into phylum, subphylum, class, order, suborder, family, genus, and species.

Scorpions are arachnids – animals that belong to the class Arachnida. This class is a part of the subphylum Chelicerata and phylum Arthropoda. Lobsters, however, belong to the class Malacostraca, and animals in this group are called malacostracans. This class is part of the subphylum Crustacea and phylum Arthropoda.

As you can now see, lobsters and scorpions are related as they belong to the same phylum, and that’s why you can notice a lot of similarities between them. However, they also have a lot of differences as they belong to different subphylums and classes.

Lobsters are much more closely related to animals in the same class, such as crabs, crayfish, shrimp, krill, prawns, or woodlice. Scorpions are closely related to spiders, ticks, or mites.

Eyes

One of the biggest differences between lobsters and scorpions is their eyes. Lobsters and other animals in their group have a compound eye. The compound eye consists of hundreds or thousands of tiny light-sensitive parts (called ommatidia). Each of these units serves to focus light on the retina and create a portion of an image.

In contrast, scorpions have simple eyes. This means that each eye has only a single lens to receive and process light and visual information. Most of these animals, however, don’t have good eyesight and rely on touch, vibration, and taste stimuli to navigate.

The other difference between lobsters’ and scorpions’ eyes is their number. Lobsters have two eyes located on stalks. Scorpions can have different amounts of eyes. For instance, some species have two eyes in front of their bodies and five eyes on each side.

Appendages

Another difference between lobsters and scorpions is their appendages. Lobsters have five pairs of legs called pereiopods. They can be slightly modified, depending on the lobster’s species. For instance, clawed lobsters have the first pair of legs modified into large claws.

Scorpions, however, have four pairs of legs, just like spiders and other arachnids. The first pair is modified into pincers that help them to catch the prey or to prevent their own predation.

Breathing

Lobsters breathe in a different way than scorpions do. Lobsters use gills to absorb the oxygen from the water. They take the water in through the opening between their legs and then absorb the oxygen. Interestingly, they can survive out of water for a certain amount of time if their lungs stay moist, but they can’t absorb the oxygen directly from the air.

In a contrast, scorpions don’t have gills. Instead, they have two types of respiratory organs: the book lungs and the trachea. They also can’t breathe underwater as lobsters do, but some species can live underwater for about two days holding their breath.

Antennae

Another thing that set lobsters from scorpions is two pairs of sensitive antennae. Lobsters use their sensory antennae to smell and locate food as well as to sense danger. Antennae are located in front of their heads, and depending on the animals and species, their length can differ. None of the arachnids have antennae.

Interestingly, all lobster species have their antennae, but their appearance and length differ. For instance, spiny, non-clawed lobsters have very long antennae that help them protect themselves from predators. Lobsters with claws, however, have shorter and thinner antennae, but they use their claws as a primary defense mechanism.

Habitat

As you probably already know, lobsters’ and scorpions’ habitats significantly differ. Lobsters live underwater and can’t breathe out of the water. They live on sandy or rocky seafloor, where they hide in their shelters. Depending on the species, they can be found in colder or tropical waters. For instance, clawed lobsters can be found in the North Atlantic Ocean, and spiny lobsters in the Caribbean waters.

Most scorpions are terrestrial, which means they live mainly on land. Their habitat ranges from tropical rainforests to deserts and grasslands. During the day, they mainly live in shelters they dig in the ground and come out at night to hunt.

Lifespan

Another difference between lobsters and scorpions is their lifespan. Interestingly, some lobsters can live even over 100 years! They also don’t age the way most animals do because they keep growing and reproducing all their life. However, they’re immortal, and they usually die from exhaustion during the molting process.

Scorpions usually live much shorter, and their average lifespan is two to six years.

Reproduction

The other difference between these two animals is their reproduction process. Lobsters reproduce sexually by males putting a packet of sperm into the female’s sperm pouch, where she carries the sperm, fertilizes it with her eggs, and carries the eggs on their abdomen until they hatch. After the baby lobsters hatch, they float in open water for a few weeks before they settle on the bottom of the ocean.

Most scorpions also reproduce sexually, but the process of laying eggs looks very different. After the male scorpion deposits sperm to the female, she keeps the fertilized eggs inside her body until they hatch.

Next, when baby scorpions emerge, they cling to her carapace and stay there until the first molting period so they can be strong enough to survive. Interestingly, sometimes female scorpion kills the male after he deposits the sperm. In contrast, female and male lobsters share the shelters together for a few more days or weeks until the female’s exoskeleton becomes hard enough to survive predators.

Similarities between lobsters and scorpions

Lobsters and scorpions have also a lot of similarities as they belong to the same phylum. Below you can read about the biggest similarities between them.

Jointed legs

The name of the phylum Arthropods that both lobsters and scorpions belong to means “jointed legs” (arthro = joint, pod = foot). All these animals have a hard exoskeleton that could create a problem with the flexibility of their appendages. This is where having jointed legs solves the problem.

Most of the appendages of lobsters and scorpions bend at joints, which are softer and bendable. This allows them to create a movement similar to what a suit of armor does. These animals control limbs by contracting their muscles connected to the exoskeleton on both sides of the joint.

Body segmentation

Lobsters and scorpions have their body divided into two different parts: a cephalothorax and an abdomen. The cephalothorax is a fusion of the head and the thorax (the middle body part). The cephalothorax contains the antennae (only in the lobster’s case), eyes, mouthparts, and legs.

The abdomen is a flexible tail that, in lobsters’ case, allows them to swim rapidly to escape predators. Scorpions use their abdomen to sting either their predator or prey, with the sting located on the distal end of the flexible tail.

Exoskeleton

Both scorpions and lobsters have an exoskeleton, which is an external skeleton. These animals are fully covered by this hard and calcified shell, which supports and protects their bodies. They don’t have any internal skeletons, which makes their internal systems very delicate.

Interestingly, exoskeletons don’t expand as animals grow inside them. Therefore, lobsters and scorpions have to molt their “shells” as they grow larger. In order to do it, they usually crack the outer shell in one spot and flex their body repeatedly until they’re finally out of the old shell.

The frequency of molting depends on the animal’s life cycle – younger individuals grow faster than older ones. Juvenile lobsters can molt every few days/weeks, and adult species molt once every year or once every two years.

Bilateral symmetry

All arthropods, including scorpions and malacostracans (lobsters), have a bilateral symmetry, which means the right half of their bodies is the mirror image of their left half — just like human bodies. The internal organs, however, aren’t necessarily placed symmetrically.

What animals are lobsters?

Lobsters are marine crustaceans which is a large, diverse group of arthropods. This group consists of about 30,000 different species, such as shrimp, krill, crabs, barnacles, crayfish, fish lice, and more. They are four major families of lobsters:

• the clawed lobster (Nephropidae),
• the spiny lobster, also known as rock lobster (Palinuridae),
• the slipper lobster, also known as Spanish lobster (Scyllaridea),
• the furry, also known as coral lobster (Synaxidae).

Lobsters’ families differ in how their body is built, their habitat, and their behavior. Despite the difference between the first pair of legs – claws, they have a lot of other distinct features. There are differences in the morphological structures on the front of their shell (carapace), the structure of their appendages, the shape of the carapace, the length and shape of their antennae, and more.

All lobsters have paired appendages: first antennae, second antennae, mandibles, first maxillae, and second maxillae. Next, they have five pairs of walking legs (pereiopods). These legs are slightly modified, depending on the lobster’s family. For example, in clawed lobster species, the first pair of legs is modified into large claws.

These invertebrates inhabit the bottom of every ocean, and the water temperature they live differs depending on the species. In general, clawed lobsters prefer colder waters and are very common in the Atlantic Ocean, especially along the North Atlantic coast of North America.

The non-clawed species, such as spiny lobsters, prefer tropical waters. You can often encounter them in tropical and subtropical parts of the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. They’re also found in the Mediterranean Sea, coastal waters of Southeast Asia, Australia, and South Africa.

Lobsters are incredibly interesting animals with fascinating life cycle and communication methods. They’re known to communicate by peeing at each other and sending chemicals that translate the smell into a message.

They can live more than 100 years and never stop growing. Lobsters are omnivorous, which means they eat both plants and animal matter. They mostly prey on fish, crabs, clams, mussels, and sea urchins.