lobsterling

From lobster +‎ -ling.

lobsterling (plural lobsterlings)

1. A young or miniature lobster.
   • 1910, Albert Davis Mead, A method of lobster culture:

     In the first few days of the fourth stage the lobsterlings are good swimmers — this is their "redeeming vice" — but the swimming is strong and bears no comparison to the aimless drifting movement characteristic of larval stages.

   • 1911, Francis Hobart Herrick, Natural history of the American lobster:

     The approach of the molt seems to start the lobsterling on its course to the bottom; accordingly when this is delayed until after the fourth stage, it probably does not often occur until the approach of the succeeding molt.