Lobstermen finding more odd colors in the catch

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PORT LAND, Maine (AP) — When a 100-pound shipment of lobsters arrived at Bill Sarro's seafood shop and restaurant last month, it contained a surprise — six orange crustaceans that have been said to be a 1-in-10-million oddity. "My butcher was unloading them and said, 'Oh, my gosh, boss, they sent us cooked dead lobsters,'" said Sarro, owner of Fresh Catch Seafood in Mansfield, Mass. "He then picked one up and it crawled up his arm." Reports of odd-colored lobsters used to be rare in the lobster fishing grounds of New England and Atlantic Canada. Normal lobsters are a mottled greenish-brown. But in recent years, accounts of bright blue, orange, yellow, calico, white and even split lobsters — one color on one side, another on the other — have jumped. It's now common to hear several stories a month of a lobsterman bringing one of the quirky crustaceans to shore. It's anybody's guess why more oddities are popping up in lobster traps, said Michael Tlusty, research director at the New England Aquarium in Boston. It could be simply because advances in technology — cellphone cameras and social media — make it easier to spread the word about bizarre lobster sightings. It's also likely more weird lobsters are being caught because the overall harvest has soared. In Maine, the catch has grown fourfold in the past 20 years, to nearly 105 million pounds last year. If the yield has quadrupled, it would make sense to have four times as many unconventional lobsters being caught as well. Although lobster is the No. 1 commercial fishery in the Northeast, there are a lot of unanswered questions about the bottom-dwelling creatures, he said. "Are we seeing more because the Twitter sphere is active and people get excited about colorful lobsters?" Tlusty said. "Is it because we're actually seeing an upswing in them? Is it just that we're catching more lobsters so we have the opportunity to see more? "Right now you can make a lot of explanations, but the actual data to find them out just isn't there." Lobsters come in a variety of colors because of genetic variations.

I wonder how much of this is increased pollution? In the article they say there are genetic variations. They also say there is an increase in the total amount harvested. So, if more are being caught, the more they may see an odd one here and there. But, to now see several a month? Our seas are being used as a dumping ground. Millions of tons of plastic, batteries, oil spills, old cars... the list goes on. It has to have an impact on the sea life. I, for one, do not want to eat a blue lobster. We are the only species who will destroy it's food supply. Apparently we're not as smart as we think we are.

Sick to think they consumed 105 million pounds of it.

Wonder how the Lobster population is doing in those areas. That number sounds unsustainable to me.

its funny you mention humans polluting their food supply, my how far we have come from dumping our leftovers and feces in the street.


every animal is the product of their environment I wish we could test these lobsters somehow to see exactly why they are changing.

Well...crustacean are basically cockroaches of the seas. They do have a wide variety of diet including edible garbage dumped by humans into the oceans.

10,700,000 tons were produced in 2007. Over 60% by weight of all crustaceans caught for consumption are shrimp and prawns, and nearly 80% is produced in Asia, with China alone producing nearly half the world's total

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Halloween-Colored Lobster Caught Off Massachusetts Coast

The New England Aquarium says the 1-pound female lobster has an orange side and a black side, with the colors split perfectly down the middle.

Marine officials say such coloration is estimated to occur once in every 50 million lobsters.

Pretty cool looking lobster

The split lobster, as it is known is created by a cellular split when the lobster egg is first fertilized. Splits are often hermaphrodites showing sexual characteristics of both genders.

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