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Blue Lobsters Found in Canada, Not Eaten

blue lobsterIt's not easy being green, but if you're blue you've got it made. Well, as long as you're a lobster. Two extremely rare blue lobsters have been caught in the last two weeks. Neither lobster will have hot pots in their future thanks to their brilliant pigmentation.

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Fluffy the lobster, as he has been dubbed, was caught last Wednesday off the shores of Prince Edward Island by Blair Doucette and his brothers. "I've been fishing for 35 years and this is the first one I've ever seen," Doucette told The Guardian, referring to the brightly azure crustacean. "It was something to see." Right around the same time Fluffy was brought to land, Lindsay Metallic, a lobster fisherman from Esgenoopetitj, First Nation, pulled up a light blue lobster with just a hint of pink, according to Telegraph-Journal.com. That lobster doesn't have a name yet.

A rare genetic defect causes the lobsters' blue color. It is estimated that one in 2 million lobsters is blue.  The defect in blue lobsters causes them to produce a large amount of a certain protein, which, when combined with a red carotenoid molecule, creates a blue complex known as crustacyanin, resulting in the blue color. Of course, blue is not the only unusual lobster coloration nor are they the most rare. Yellow or orange lobsters are one in 30 million, albino lobsters are one in 100 million, and red lobsters (which appear red before being cooked) are on in 10 million.

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Although blue lobsters are entirely healthy and safe to eat, both of the blue specimen recently caught will be saved from the pot. Fluffy has spent some time in an aquarium in the Doucette home but will soon be transferred to Rustico Harbour Fishing Museum before being returned to his natural habitat. The unnamed lighter blue creature is hoping to find a home in the New Brunswick Aquarium and Marine Centre in Shippagan, Canada. There, he will join a pink lobster donated by Metallic at an earlier date.

I don't know about you, but I could really go for a lobster roll right about now. I'll stick with the standard muddy brown-green lobster variety, though.

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Justine Sterling

Posted by Justine Sterling

Justine Sterling never had a chance. The first thing in her mouth after she was born was not her mother's milk but her father's finger after having been dipped in sparkling wine. Growing up in Northern California she foraged for wild lettuce and frequently presented her parents with concoctions she called "spritzers." Though she tried to deny it while in college, food and wine kept sneaking into her writing. It wasn't long before she gave in and moved to one of the world's foremost culinary Meccas. Now based in Brooklyn, New York, she seeks out culinary oddities (live octopus has been a favorite) and is always on the lookout for that perfect martini. Since moving to New York and gaining her master's in journalism from New York University, Justine has written for publications such as Meatpaper, Time Out New York, and The New York Post. In her spare time she schemes up plans to ferment her own beer and enjoys quick pickling. Read More
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