Old lobster
A heavy lobster of many seasons — a long, slow life armoured against most of what would have killed it young.
An old lobster in a dream is the dream's image of a long, slow life that has armoured itself against most of what would have killed it when it was young. The old lobster has shed its shell many times and grown in each one; the size is the record of the survivals. The dream brings the old lobster when something in your life — a survivor, a long-running institution, your own ageing self — is now too defended for most of the harms that used to be threats. A heavy old lobster moving slowly along a rock shelf is the dream affirming the accumulated competence. An old lobster in a trap is the dream noting that the very size that expresses the survival is now the reason the creature cannot turn around, and the new threat is shaped to the old strength.