# How do lobsters breathe?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-lobsters-breathe/18797>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 7, 2000, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-lobsters-breathe/18797 "2000-05-07T01:46:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bigneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6f9a4e/32.png) [@bigneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigneck)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-lobsters-breathe/18797/1 "2000-05-07T01:46:47Z")

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How do lobsters breathe?

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**Author:** ![Jo3sh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a587f6/32.png) [@Jo3sh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jo3sh)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-lobsters-breathe/18797/2 "2000-05-07T01:51:31Z")

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> \*\*  
> How do lobsters breathe?  
> \*\*

They have gills.

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**Author:** ![Dusy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@Dusy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusy)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-lobsters-breathe/18797/3 "2000-05-07T07:00:07Z")

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They don’t have gills exactly, but they absorb air through the skin, internal (mouth lining) and external. They have air pockets to store oxygen, but not lungs that communicate directly with the outside.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-lobsters-breathe/18797/4 "2000-05-07T07:49:31Z")

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Most crustaceans have gills. A few respire through body their surfacse. [Crustacean terminology](http://www.lam.mus.ca.us/lacmnh/departments/research/invertebrates/crustacea/cbs/Glossary_of_Morphological_Terms/index.shtml) has

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> Branchial chamber. – The chamber formed by the lateral region of the carapace enclosing the gills. [Ingle, 1983]  
> . – On either side of the cephalothorax of shrimps, **lobsters** , crabs and certain other crustaceans; formed from a deep lateral fold of the carapace; house the gills. [Bliss, 1982]

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-lobsters-breathe/18797/5 "2000-05-07T22:30:40Z")

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Lobsters have gills. They’re the little red frizzy things beneath the legs when you crack them open.