How do they estimate the age of a lobster?

Question

They recently found a lobster in Canada and estimated it to be 100 years old. How do they figure this out? Does it have to do with the size?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080718/wl_canada_afp/canadaanimaloffbeat;_ylt=ApdN6t_3Bqrg9d3E1JfAl74UewgF

Here's another article about a really old lobster.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/02/earlyshow/main677483.shtml

Answer 1

size.. lobster mold at a particular rate as they reach certain ages.. every time they mold they grow so much.. as such they can estimate the approximate age of the lobster

Answer 2

They estimate a lobser's age by it's size because they grow at "known" rate.

Used to know the figure, but can't remember now.

The one thing I DO know is that that centenarian lobster is unlikely to be eaten...the meat on something that old is supposed to be stringy and tasteless. Good thing too...eating something that old seems to almost be a sin... lol!

EDIT: When a lobster grows, it "molts," not molds, but other than that, the other guy's correct as far as either of us have gone. :D