It is therefore highly unlikely that a large female will molt while brooding. Observations on the timing of molting and spawning events offer clues to relative contributions to egg production. Female lobsters at the smaller end of the maturity spectrum take one of two courses of action. They either molt early in the summer and spawn in the fall, or they molt in the fall and spawn the following summer. These females typically molt again soon after their eggs hatch.
Larger females molt less frequently and therefore have more time for reproduction.
Female lobsters weighing more than four pounds also follow one of two spawning patterns. First, the female molts in one year and spawns in the following year. After hatching, she spawns again, either in the same year or in the following year. To fertilize the eggs without molting, the female uses sperm she has stored since a previous mating or she mates again while she is hard shelled. Whether a female mates again is dependent on the quantity of sperm she is carrying and the maturation stage of the eggs she is producing in her ovaries.