Andy Licnau, age 11, of Huntsville, Ala., for his question

DOES A LOBSTER SHED HIS SHELL?

A female lobster may lay between 5,000 and 10,000 eggs every two years. She carries the eggs under the curve of her tail for 11 to 12 months. When the eggs are ready to hatch, the lobster shakes the young out of the eggshells and the newborn lobsters, each about a third of an inch long, rise to the surface.

Lobsters cast off their shells, or molt, as they grow. A baby will lose its first shell two days after hatching, and then it molts three times during the first month. When molting, the lobster's body gives off a substance that softens the shell. Then, by expanding its muscles, the lobster splits the shell and steps out of it. The whole process takes 15 minutes. The new shell, which has formed under the old one, is soft at first but it later hardens.