Joan of Arc

Lobster Has The Blues

BRISTOL, R.I. -- There's something blue to see in Bristol.

A blue lobster at The Audubon Society has molted and is at its brightest blue ever.

The lobster is on display at the society's Environmental Education Center was caught two years ago, but has never been so blue.

Blue lobsters are about a 1-in-5 million occurrence.

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maleficent

that is too coool....

/me wonders what it would taste like, lightly steamed with drawn butter

no seriously - that's very cool... Never knew they existed

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shesus

I have never seen a blue lobster. Or have even heard of them for that matter. Very cool and thanks for sharing!

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maleficent

Interesting article on lobsters....

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/08/18/blue.lobster.ap/

Blue lobster becomes blue-plate special for tankmate
August 18, 2000
Web posted at: 7:26 PM EDT (2326 GMT)


BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut (AP) -- Forgive Larry Fernandes if his newest pet goes it alone.

The commercial fisherman recently hauled a rare blue lobster out of the Long Island Sound, the second one he's harvested in the past 10 years.

His first such find had it made for a while. Fernandes built a special tank for it, fed it a regal diet of protein-rich minnows and then introduced a second lobster for company. The problem: Lobsters are cannibals. His rare catch became the tankmate's blue-plate special.

"When I got over to the tank, all that was there was the top part of him," Fernandes says. "I guess it's true: Even lobsters prefer the tails."

The new pet will remain solo, Fernandes said.

The blue hue is caused by genetics, said John Volk, director of the state's bureau of aquaculture. Chances are Fernandes' catch has some blue brothers and sisters crawling around the Sound floor, Volk said.

"Generally, once a year somebody encounters some unusual colors," he said. "We've seen other lobsters that come up yellow."

He recalled one lobsterman trapped a yellow-orange lobster the week of Halloween.

"We thought that was pretty appropriate," said Volk.

Diet also can influence color, but Volk said that usually occurs under controlled laboratory conditions and is only a temporary effect. He estimates the chances of a blue lobster birth is little under one in a million.

The novelty aside, Volk said the blue ones don't taste any differently. And in the end, there's just one color that matters to lobster lovers.

"I think everybody is pretty happy throwing the green lobster in the pot and having it come up orange," said Volk.

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fightnight

Wow, 1 in 5 million is pretty crazy. When I was in Maine about 2 weeks ago, I went to a lobster place where they had tanks of live lobsters, they had 2 blue ones that were separated from the rest of the population. Weren't as bright as that one above though. I feel like i've seen them before too when I was up in Maine.

Edit: Just read that other article fully, he estimates 1 in a million. Get's my statistics thinking working, wondering if any of those numbers are accurate considering i've seen them several times in my life. I wonder how many lobsters are caught in maine a year.... or even in the part of maine I tend to go to.... too much math.