Current:Home > StocksJust how rare is a rare-colored lobster? Scientists say answer could be under the shell -Streamline Finance
Just how rare is a rare-colored lobster? Scientists say answer could be under the shell
View
Date:2025-04-23 13:46:52
BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) — Orange, blue, calico, two-toned and ... cotton-candy colored?
Those are all the hues of lobsters that have showed up in fishers’ traps, supermarket seafood tanks and scientists’ laboratories over the last year. The funky-colored crustaceans inspire headlines that trumpet their rarity, with particularly uncommon baby blue-tinted critters described by some as “cotton-candy colored” often estimated at 1 in 100 million.
A recent wave of these curious colored lobsters in Maine, New York, Colorado and beyond has scientists asking just how atypical the discolored arthropods really are. As is often the case in science, it’s complicated.
Lobsters’ color can vary due to genetic and dietary differences, and estimates about how rare certain colors are should be taken with a grain of salt, said Andrew Goode, lead administrative scientist for the American Lobster Settlement Index at the University of Maine. There is also no definitive source on the occurrence of lobster coloration abnormalities, scientists said.
“Anecdotally, they don’t taste any different either,” Goode said.
In the wild, lobsters typically have a mottled brown appearance, and they turn an orange-red color after they are boiled for eating. Lobsters can have color abnormalities due to mutation of genes that affect the proteins that bind to their shell pigments, Goode said.
The best available estimates about lobster coloration abnormalities are based on data from fisheries sources, said marine sciences professor Markus Frederich of the University of New England in Maine. However, he said, “no one really tracks them.”
Frederich and other scientists said that commonly cited estimates such as 1 in 1 million for blue lobsters and 1 in 30 million for orange lobsters should not be treated as rock-solid figures. However, he and his students are working to change that.
Frederich is working on noninvasive ways to extract genetic samples from lobsters to try to better understand the molecular basis for rare shell coloration. Frederich maintains a collection of strange-colored lobsters at the university’s labs and has been documenting the progress of the offspring of an orange lobster named Peaches who is housed at the university.
Peaches had thousands of offspring this year, which is typical for lobsters. About half were orange, which is not, Frederich said. Of the baby lobsters that survived, a slight majority were regular colored ones, Frederich said.
Studying the DNA of atypically colored lobsters will give scientists a better understanding of their underlying genetics, Frederich said.
“Lobsters are those iconic animals here in Maine, and I find them beautiful. Especially when you see those rare ones, which are just looking spectacular. And then the scientist in me simply says I want to know how that works. What’s the mechanism?” Frederich said.
He does eat lobster but “never any of those colorful ones,” he said.
One of Frederich’s lobsters, Tamarind, is the typical color on one side and orange on the other. That is because two lobster eggs fused and grew as one animal, Frederich said. He said that’s thought to be as rare as 1 in 50 million.
Rare lobsters have been in the news lately, with an orange lobster turning up in a Long Island, New York, Stop & Shop last month, and another appearing in a shipment being delivered to a Red Lobster in Colorado in July.
The odd-looking lobsters will likely continue to come to shore because of the size of the U.S. lobster fishery, said Richard Wahle, a longtime University of Maine lobster researcher who is now retired. U.S. fishers have brought more than 90 million pounds (40,820 metric tons) of lobster to the docks in every year since 2009 after only previously reaching that volume twice, according to federal records that go back to 1950.
“In an annual catch consisting of hundreds of millions of lobster, it shouldn’t be surprising that we see a few of the weird ones every year, even if they are 1 in a million or 1 in 30 million,” Wahle said.
veryGood! (8)
prev:Travis Hunter, the 2
next:'Most Whopper
Related
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- New figures reveal scope of military discrimination against LGBTQ troops, with over 29,000 denied honorable discharges
- Search for British actor Julian Sands resumes 5 months after he was reported missing
- The Kids Are Not Alright
- Pregnant Kylie Kelce Shares Hilarious Question Her Daughter Asked Jason Kelce Amid Rising Fame
- See Robert De Niro and Girlfriend Tiffany Chen Double Date With Sting and Wife Trudie Styler
- 12 House Republicans Urge Congress to Cut ANWR Oil Drilling from Tax Bill
- This Coastal Town Banned Tar Sands and Sparked a War with the Oil Industry
- The Daily Money: Spending more on holiday travel?
- Crushed by Covid-19, Airlines Lobby for a Break on Emissions Offsets
Ranking
- 'As foretold in the prophecy': Elon Musk and internet react as Tesla stock hits $420 all
- Is coconut water an electrolyte boost or just empty calories?
- Some people get sick from VR. Why?
- Worldwide Effort on Clean Energy Is What’s Needed, Not a Carbon Price
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- Does Walmart Have a Dirty Energy Secret?
- California Startup Turns Old Wind Turbines Into Gold
- Here's What Kate Middleton Said When Asked to Break Royal Rule About Autographs
Recommendation
How to watch new prequel series 'Dexter: Original Sin': Premiere date, cast, streaming
What could we do with a third thumb?
Ariana Madix Shares Surprising Take on Vanderpump Rules' Scandoval Reunion Drama
Damaged section of Interstate 95 to partially reopen earlier than expected following bridge collapse
Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
RHONJ: How Joe Gorga Drama Brought Teresa Giudice's Daughter to Tears During Her Wedding
Looking for a refreshing boost this summer? Try lemon water.
Taylor Lautner Calls Out Hateful Comments Saying He Did Not Age Well