- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,138,731
Israel's biggest union announces "historic" strike as Prime Minister Netanyahu faces intense pressure over judicialâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Oc
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,138,731
FDIC says First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company will purchase the assets of Silicon Valley Bank cnn.it/3LT1meo
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,138,731
Update: The City of Philadelphia says it is now confident tap water from the Baxter Drinking Water Treatment Plantâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…qG
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,138,731
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fires his defense minister after Yoav Gallant's call for a pause on the jâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…hF
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,138,731
Philadelphia advised residents to drink bottled water "out of caution" after a chemical spill in the Delaware River. cnn.it/3TIuVkV
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,138,731
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Saturday that he has been released from an inpatient physical therapy fâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Nu
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,138,731
Russia plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine's neighbor Belarus, says Putin, further stoking tensionâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…BO
CNN POLITICS ON FACEBOOK » | CNN POLITICS ON TWITTER »
A catch straight out of the deep blue sea
A rare event is said to happen once in a blue moon. But a blue moon has nothing on a blue lobster.
Canadian lobster boat captain Bobby Stoddard said he and his crew were hauling in their lobster traps one day in early May when one of the men called out, "Hey, we got a pretty one in this trap!"
"I turned around and said, 'Holy smoke!' " said Stoddard, 51, of Clarks Harbour, Nova Scotia.
In the trap with three other, ordinary greenish-brown lobsters was a remarkably bright blue one, the first lobster of that hue Stoddard had seen in his 33 years of fishing for a living.
"This is the only one that I've ever seen," he told CNN. "And my dad has been a lobsterman of about 55 years, and he caught one about 45 years ago, but hadn't seen one since."
Bobby Stoddard, lobster hunter
Stoddard captains one lobster boat, his father another, and his three brothers work with them. On a good day, they haul in about 3,000 of the crustaceans, he said. Multiply that times 33 seasons, and that's a lot of lobsters. But only one blue one.
According to the University of Maine Lobster Institute, blue lobsters are a one-in-2-million phenomenon. A genetic variation causes the lobster to produce an excessive amount of a particular protein that gives it that azure aspect.
Stoddard offered his find (a male, by the way) to a nearby ocean research institute, but "they didn't seem too interested," he said.
His girlfriend pushed him to offer it for sale for on the classified-ad site Kajiji.com, he said. Having no idea what the market for a 1.5-pound blue lobster might be, he priced it at $200.
"I wanted to put a number high enough on it so nobody would be interested in it," Stoddard confessed.
However, he said he started to get some "weird" phone calls and e-mails scolding him for trying to sell such a rare creature, so he canceled the ad.
"I'm kind of a shy guy," he said. "When things get controversial, I kind of go hide. This is what I do for a living; I catch lobsters and sell them. I'm just trying to do the right thing. I thought, 'I just don't need this hassle.' "
For now, the cerulean crustacean is residing comfortably in a nice, cold holding tank at Stoddard's business, feeding on bits of fish and mollusks as normal. A massive aquarium is under construction near the CN Tower in Toronto, but Stoddard hasn't decided whether to offer his specimen for display there.
"I don't know what the best thing is to do," he said. "It probably belongs back in the ocean, but I'd like for as many people as possible to see it."
Related stories:
Blue lobsters aren't the only rare ones - what about calico lobsters?
And then of course, there are always really, really big lobsters as well.
On Twitter
On Twitter
@cnnbrk on Twitter
The Week magazine had an article about finding a blue lobster about 5 YEARS AGO! Yes, It is cool. End of story. 🙂
I refuse to ever eat a lobster. They are wonderful creatures, however tasty. The way they are prepared is so barbaric. How could any thinking human being want to boil anything ALIVE. I will stick to tuna.
Actually, Liz, I prefer to steam them. Less water inside when you crack them open. I also tend to shy away from the melted butter bath. Kind of ruins the lobster's natural sweet flavor. Makes me wish I was in Maine right now!
Chefs use a knife before steaming them. No better or worse than how most animals we eat are killed.
Yes, Lizabeth, because clubbing, freezing and suffocating crushing is so much better than boiling. I suggest you become a vegan if you don't like the way your food is killed.
I hate to rain on your soap box. But.. Tuna are pulled from the sea with hooks in their mouths then dragged on to a boat with larger hooks. Left to suffocate, outside of their oxygen source (water). Then put on ice to keep them fresh until they get to the market where they are stripped of their skin and chopped up, so you can throw them on a grill. Wow, that sounds much more humane. (That is sarcasm, in case you couldn't tell).
I knew it...the color of ones shell does change the way you are looked at!
The lobster is a whole safer being at the aquarium, for people/children to see than sending back to the ocean and later end up at somebodys den table. Who knows maybe someday I may visit the aquarium to see it.
PUT HIM BACK IN THE OCEAN!
There should be no question about it! Everyone can see the picture, that's enough! We don't need to visit him in a tank, where he'll die sooner rather than later.
The way they are prepared is so barbaric. Boiled alive!!! Anyone who would eat one should die the same way. Karma!
Liz, see my reply above to your other statement.
Mmmmm... Blue Lobster.
Pinchy's blue brother. Hope he doesn't acidentally end up like Pinchy!!
SET HIM FREE do the right thing
FREE WILLY!!!!!!!
Thats an awesome blue lobster. Hopefully the person who caught the lobster will get a reward fee. for finding and being able to educate the world of science.
I think he should donate the lobster to an aquarium. The lobster is a lesson in natural genetic diversification. Also, this rare lobster could help raise awareness of the need to conserve lobsters and their native habitats, to protect not only the lobsters but also the lobster fishermen and their industry.
Everyone needs money and why not profit off educating the world. I think its a great idea if possible to put the calico and the blue together for an amazing display. Its not like profiting off another person misfortune. Let the guy get rich. Its not like he made a false 2 Million dollar tax return and the govt doesn't mind.
Lobster Sandwich
Either sell it to an aquarium, and I'm sure that some of them would like to have it to display, or release. Simple decision.
I guess lobsters get the blues also.
Offer it up to an aquarium or put it back in the ocean.
Nice piece of commentary, captain obvious. Did you read the article? Those are, indeed, the same options Mr. Stoddard arrived at himself. Very astute of you!