The subesophageal ganglia controls the mouthparts. Much seemingly normal behavior can occur when the circumesophageal connectives are severed, pointing to many higher level functions of the subesophageal ganglia. The remaining segmental ganglia control postural musculature, appendages on the segments, and some organs, such as the intestine. Lobsters have compound eyes, as do most arthropods, but these are stalked to provide a broader field of view and increased binocular spread. In clawed lobsters, each eye has 13,500 ommatidia which are light capturing, image forming organs.
Lobsters also use some obvious visual displays in agonistic encounters.
Still, chemical and tactile senses appear to be the keys to successful social encounters and prey detection. However, vision in lobsters has not been well studied. Even though lobsters live in a watery world, they have highly developed systems of both smell and taste. Hundreds of fine hairs cover the antennules and are the actual organs of smell. These hairs are incredibly sensitive to amino acids, the building blocks of all proteins, of which animal tissue is made.