Every time I publish a post about mutant lobsters I get a bunch of people calling me out, saying that the deformities aren’t really that rare for “real” lobstermen to see.
One guy even called me an “irresponsible journalist”.
So I figured I’d better take the time to point something out that I thought the pictures of me making a fish face and my Captain with seaweed on his head included in the last post would have made apparent- the mutant lobster posts are meant for fun, they are not meant as investigative journalism stories.
Also, deformities typically are a result of a lobster’s shell growing around something like a rock or stick and are completely edible and safe to eat. Even the lobsters with the awful looking shell disease are safe to eat and they don’t taste any differently.
One other thing, some of the lobsters pictured were either too big, too small, or breeders- you can tell which ones they are because they don’t have elastic bands on their claws, meaning they were tossed back after I got a chance to get their picture.
With that said, here’s the latest mutant to show up in a trap on the F/V Foxy Lady: