Lobster

Available for over a year

Brett Westwood looks at how the lobster is a creature that when drawn up from the deep is made to shed its natural identity as an ancient predator of the sea floor and has become an improbable sex symbol, an epicure's delight, a muse for surrealist artists a fearsome little nipper thanks to those pincers. Not all lobsters have claws, but the ones in this programme do. They’re the European and American species, which come equipped with enormous claws like oversized boxing gloves, and a tough armour evolved to withstand the rigours of life on the rocks. Original producer: Tom Bonnett Archive producer for BBC Audio in Bristol : Andrew Dawes Revised repeat - first broadcast in a longer form on 5th July 2016