Lobsters Taste With Their Legs

While humans experience taste with their tongues, a lobster's culinary world is centered on its feet. As these crustaceans navigate the dim and complex terrain of the ocean floor, they are constantly sampling their environment. Their legs are covered in thousands of tiny, hair-like bristles packed with chemosensory neurons. When a lobster walks over a potential food source, like a clam or a piece of fish, these leg-based receptors instantly identify the chemical makeup of their discovery, effectively tasting it on contact.

This remarkable sense of touch-taste is the final step in a sophisticated food-finding system. The initial hunt begins with the lobster (Review)'s sense of smell, which is handled by its smaller pair of antennae, called antennules. These are also covered in sensitive hairs that can detect minute chemical traces dissolved in the water, allowing the lobster to pick up the "scent" of a distant meal. By following this chemical trail through the water currents, the lobster hones in on the source before using its legs to give it a final taste test and confirm it's found something edible.