page_title: Homarus gammarus
section_title: Distribution
hierarchical_section_title: Homarus gammarus / Distribution
caption_attribution_description: Tømmeråsfjorden, a branch of Tysfjorden in Ofoten, Nordland, Norway
context_page_description: Homarus gammarus, known as the European lobster or common lobster, is a species of clawed lobster from the eastern Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and parts of the Black Sea. It is closely related to the American lobster, H. americanus. It may grow to a length of 60 cm and a mass of 6 kilograms, and bears a conspicuous pair of claws. In life the lobsters are blue, only becoming "lobster red" on cooking. Mating occurs in the summer, producing eggs which are carried by the females for up to a year before hatching into planktonic larvae. Homarus gammarus is a highly esteemed food, and is widely caught using lobster pots, mostly around the British Isles.
context_section_description: Homarus gammarus is found across the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean from northern Norway to the Azores and Morocco, not including the Baltic Sea. It is also present in most of the Mediterranean Sea, only missing from the section east of Crete, and along only the north-west coast of the Black Sea. The northernmost populations are found in the Norwegian fjords Tysfjorden and Nordfolda, inside the Arctic Circle.
  The species can be divided into four genetically distinct populations, one widespread population, and three which have diverged due to small effective population sizes, possibly due to adaptation to the local environment. The first of these is the population of lobsters from northern Norway, which have been referred to as the "midnight-sun lobster". The populations in the Mediterranean Sea are distinct from those in the Atlantic Ocean. The last distinct population is found in the Netherlands: samples from the Oosterschelde were distinct from those collected in the North Sea or English Channel.
  Attempts have been made to introduce H. gammarus to New Zealand, alongside other European species such as the edible crab, Cancer pagurus. Between 1904 and 1914, one million lobster larvae were released from hatcheries in Dunedin, but the species did not become established there.
caption: Tysfjorden, along with neighbouring fjords in Northern Norway, is home to the world's northernmost populations of H. gammarus.
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