Thanks. They were great! We froze most.
My quiz was a trick question. The amount of lobster meat inside the shells depends on their shells. New shells (lobsters discard and grow new shells as the animals constantly grows in size), have the least amount of meat inside. The animal inside the oversized new shell, is surrounded by water.
A hard shell lobster means the animal has 'worn' the shell long enough to fill it from within and displace the water. The shell has thickened and hardened as well.
Mary Ann came in from the backyard sputtering about how her hands hurt (medium hard shells). I wasn't surprised to see she picked several pounds and filled a medium bowl.
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This is the reason you pay much more per pound for a hard shell vs a new shell lobster. The industry has convinced the public there's something special about a 'new shell', on your lobster. There is, water!