Lobster – Cosma

Okay, what’s that?

I overheard someone say something about “cotton candy lobster” today, and I couldn’t imagine what in the world they could be talking about.

Is it a delicacy at some state fair in New England made out of bright red gummy lobster candy?

Or maybe someone put “make a picture of a lobster made of cotton candy” into an AI image generator and got a (probably) funky result?

Either way, not appetizing!

Still, curiosity got the better of me.

I Googled it and found out that it was ‘probably” a conversation about a rare lobster.

It Just Glowed: Lobsterman Finds Rare ‘Cotton Candy’ Lobster in Searsport Trap (Josh Gabbard and Mark Rediker, WABI 5)

Of course, stories about rare, oddly colored lobsters appear on a regular basis in this area.

For example, here is a story about a blue lobster.

WCVB Channel 5 Boston (YouTube Channel)
WCVB Channel 5 Boston (Official Website)

This is a link to the press release about it.

Rare Blue Lobster – Only 1 in 2 Million in the Wild – Donated to Aquarium (New England Aquarium)

Here are other similar stories from Boston.com.

Weirdest Lobster I’ve Ever Seen: Maine TikToker Shares Extremely Rare Two-Toned Lobster (Molly Farrar, Boston.com)
A Rare Yellow Lobster Joins New England Aquarium’s Multicolored Collection (Erica Yee, Boston.com)

Seasonal versions pop up around this time of year.

Ghostly, Translucent Lobster Hauled from Ocean Off Maine (AP via Boston.com)

The New England Aquarium even has had a Halloween lobster!

New England Aquarium (YouTube Channel)
New England Aquarium (Official Website)

Sometimes a story goes into more depth about the range of lobster colors.

Orange, Yellow, Blue, and Even Halloween: The Rarest Lobster Colors, Explained (Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston.com)

After a while it is easy to see that these stories are a way of bringing the scientific work that the New England Aquarium does with lobsters to the public’s attention as a form of outreach. Here is a video that explains the chemistry behind the colored shells as well as why they have a lab where they grow different colored lobsters in an effort to understand shell disease.

BytesizeScience

Now, inquiring minds NEED to know, how many colors are there and how rare are they?

You can find that on the handy dandy coloration section of Wikipedia’s Lobster page!

Neat!

All of this inspired me to “spruce up” the Lobster page on Cosma — check it out to find out why lobsters are weird and “sort of” immortal!

Find out more about lobsters, crustaceans and animals in general …

You can also click on objects in this Toy Worlds to learn more about lobsters and their friends!

You can also explore it on Kuula.

Cosma is not a funded project — money is neither requested nor accepted, so there is no budget for publicity.

The only request is that you please tell other people about it.

Thank you!

I’ve been updating the “nature” related pages on this site, so I’ve spent an abnormal amount of time perusing nature related sites for the last few weeks. Along the way I came across more than my fair share of odd nature stories. Many of them were viral, so you may have seen some of them before, but I bet you haven’t seen or heard about all of them. So, here’s a rundown of some of the most noteworthy, fun tidbits that I’ve come across.

First, today, there’s a story about birds going on benders.

FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul (YouTube Channel)
FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul (Official Website)

They’ll Sober Up,’ Chief Says: No Need to Call Police Over ‘Drunken’ Birds Up North (Forum News Service, Twin Cities.com)

A quick search on YouTube revealed that this isn’t even all that unusual.

Next, there was that seal that slapped a man in the face. Of course, the most unusual part of the story was that the seal used an octopus to do it.

A Seal Slapped A Man In The Face With An Octopus Because Nature Never Stops Surprising (TIME, YouTube)
Seal Slaps Kayaker with Octopus in Viral GoPro Video (Caitlin O ‘Kane, CBS NEWS)
Why Did An Octopus-Wielding Seal Slap A Kayaker In The Face? (Rachel D. Cohen, NPR)

Speaking of octopuses, did you hear about the scientists that got octopuses high on ecstasy? It was done in the name of research, and it turns out that the octopuses didn’t respond all that differently than humans.

Octopuses Are Being Given Ecstasy in the Name of Science (Mashable, YouTube)
On Ecstasy, Octopuses Reached Out for a Hug (JoAnna Klein, New York Times)

On the invertebrates on drugs front, there was also a story about the owner of Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound in Maine getting lobsters high before cooking them.

I first saw this in a story from Boston.com.

A Maine Restaurant Owner is Giving Weed to Lobsters Before They’re Cooked (Erin Kuschner, Boston.com)

Then I hunted down a video about it.

CBS Boston (YouTube Channel)
CBS Boston (Official Website)

Of course, after that story went viral, it resulted in this follow-up story a week later about how the Maine Health Inspection Program cracked down on the restaurant for selling “adulterated” lobsters. The owner then claimed that she hadn’t actually sold the lobsters to customers, but she and her father had experimented with eating some “adulterated” lobsters themselves.

The Maine Department of Health is Investigating the Restaurant that Gives Its Lobsters Weed (Erin Kuschner, Boston.com)

Now here’s something that falls a bit more clearly into the “humane” category. There’s this story about an injured turtle that got a Lego wheelchair.

WJZ: CBS News Baltimore (YouTube Channel)
WJZ: CBS News Baltimore (Official Website)

Injured Turtle At The Maryland Zoo Gets Lego Wheelchair (WJZ-TV CBS Baltimore)

A quick search of YouTube did reveal that it isn’t all that original, though. In fact, it’s appears to be about as common as birds on berry benders.

Another one from the “animals and tech” front was this video that pretty much speaks for itself (spoiler alert, “training” was involved).

b/60 (YouTube Channel)

Then there’s the story about a small town in Greece getting covered in spider webs. However, according to your news source, you may not have heard that it was due to frisky spiders.

Inside Edition (YouTube Channel)
Inside Edition (Official Website)

This Town in Greece is Draped in Thousands of Spider Sebs (Christina Maxouris & Brandon Griggs, CNN)

Finally, no post like this would be complete without a fun cat video or a 360° video, so here’s a 360° video from Big Cat Rescue in Tampa that fits the bill nicely.

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

Big Cat Rescue (YouTube Channel)
Big Cat Rescue (Official Website)

If you want to see some more fun “cat” videos there’s a Big Cat Rescue YouTube Channel that even has a 360 VR Playlist with some clips that are guaranteed to make you go Awwww … for a good cause!

I personally liked the one with the kittens, of course! 🙂

Find out more about birds, seals, octopuses, lobsters, turtles, spiders, tigers, animals, life and nature …

Tag: Lobster

Cotton Candy Lobster?

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