Saturday, December 29, 2007

Blue Lobsters Are Real!

Lobsters are supposed to be red right? ... Well, yes and no.
Most live american lobsters are naturally colored an olive green or mottled dark greenish brown. In rare cases, lobsters come in shades of bright blue, white (albino), yellow, black, and red have been reported from time to time. Perhaps the most unusual colors are the "half-and-half" lobsters with a line straight down their backs where the two colors meet.
The major pigment in a lobster's shell, astaxanthin, is actually bright red in its free state; but in the lobster's shell astaxanthin is chemically bound to proteins that change it to a greenish color. When lobsters are cooked, heat breaks down these bonds, freeing the astaxanthin so that it reverts to its normal red color.
So how does a lobst View the rest of this article


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