It is a daunting proposition. A large red crustacean sitting in a hard shell on your plate. Inside, is rich luscious lobster meat, read to be dipped in butter and consumed — but first, you need to get the meat out of the shell. Although it's not a neat process, it's a relatively simple one. Read on, as this page will help you learn how to eat a lobster.

1. The formal name for a lobster's claw is cheliped
2. A one pound lobster is called a chicken
3. Female lobsters are known as hens
4. A lobster and a grasshopper have the same size brain
5. Lobsters become cannibalistic when crowded, which is why lobstermen use bands on the claws.
6. A lobster's crusher claw is bigger than its tearing claw.

• If you've never eaten a lobster before, you're in for an adventure! It's a unique experience, where you are required to disassemble your meal before consuming it. Gather a cracker, a pick, and your lobster, and be prepared to need to wash up when you're done. Let's get started on learning how to eat a lobster.

You'll need a cracker and a pick to eat lobster (Creative Commons photo by Keven Law)

• Towards the end of the summer, Maine lobsters begin to molt. Lobsters with brand new shells are referred to as shedders, or soft-shells. Both hard-shell and soft-shell lobsters have their proponents, with some people swearing hard-shells taste better, and others preferring soft-shells. Regardless of your stance on taste, there are two important differences.

1. Soft-shells don't quite fit in their shell yet, so the empty space between the shell and the meat will be filled with water. This means that a 1 1/4 hard shell lobster has more meat than a 1 1/4 pound soft-shell, as some of that soft-shell's 1 1/4 pounds consist of water.
2. Soft-shell lobster's shells can be very thin and brittle. Sometimes you may not need a cracker to break them open.

1. Cooked lobster

2. Lobster cracker

3. Lobster picks

1. Melted butter

2. Bib

3. Seafood fork

4. Bowl for the lobster shells

5. Soap and water to clean up after eating

6. Lots of napkins

• Start with the claws. If the chef didn't remove the bands after cooking, you'll want to take them off before proceeding.

1. Gently twist the claws at the joint closest to the body to break them off.
2. Separate the two parts of the claw, and remove the meat from the lower end with a seafood fork, a pick, or your fingers.
3. Crack the claw's tip with a lobster cracker, and push the meat out with your forefinger. If you have large hands, you may need to use your pinky.
4. Dip the meat you've removed in melted butter (if desired), and enjoy!

• Now that you've enjoyed the claw meat, it's time to proceed to the tail.

1. Hold the lobster tail with one hand, and the torso with the other hand, and twist to separate the tail from the body.
2. Remove the small flippers at the end of the tail. These flippers, or telsons, should be set aside for later.
3. Push your fingers into the tail through the end from which you removed the telsons, and push the tail meat out of the other opening.
4. Peel off the top of the tail. This will uncover the digestive organs, which should be discarded before you eat the tail meat.

• You may be full by this point, but there are still tender morsels of lobster to be discovered.

1. Use your pick the remove the meat from the telsons.
2. Twist the legs of the lobster to remove them from the body.
   1. Insert the legs into your mouth.
   2. Using your teeth, bite down slightly as far up the leg as your can to help remove the meat.
   3. Suck the meat out of the legs.
3. Larger lobsters will have small bits of meat inside the shell, that you can remove with picks after breaking the shell apart.
4. Some people enjoy eating the green tomalley, a digestive gland.
5. Female lobsters may contain roe (eggs) which can also be eaten .