Two in a Blue Moon

BY CARLA ALLEN

The Coast Guard

NovaNewsNow.com

Two blue lobsters caught by local fishermen are on display at grocery stores in Barrington Passage. Unusual? Yes, but not as rare as you might think in this area.

Finding a blue lobster is a one in two million occurrence. Each year, approximately 31 million lobsters are landed in Lobster Fishing Area 34. Theoretically as many as 15 of these sky-coloured beauties could show up during the fishing season.

“You land a lot of lobsters down there,” said Bedford Institute of Oceanography lobster biologist, Doug Pezzack.

“You can expect to see several blue lobsters but to have them show up that close together at the same time seems a little odd.”

Pezzack says they receive calls quite often on different coloured lobsters and that they seem to come in spurts.

“We probably don’t hear about half of the ones that are caught,” he said.

In 2005 a Bowdoin College chemistry professor announced that he and his colleague, Professor Harry Frank of the

University of Connecticut, had cracked the mystery behind blue-shelled lobsters.

Their research discovered that a genetic defect causes a blue lobster to produce an excessive amount of protein. The protein wraps around a small, red carotenoid molecule known as astaxanthin. The two mash together to form a blue complex known as crustacyanin, which gives the lobster shell a blue color.

The blue lobsters are a big hit in the seafood departments of the Barrington Passage Atlantic Superstore and Sobeys.

“I’ve had people tell me they don’t believe it’s real”, said one manager.

The lobsters will remain on display at the stores for several months.