Calvin the calico lobster

This lobster, dubbed Calvin, was headed for the dinner plate—by way of a pot of boiling water—only to be saved because he looked nifty. Ahhh, the capricious nature of humans.

According to an NPR story, this spotted pattern isn't even the most unusual lobster coloration out there. White lobsters are even more rare. They can also, apparently, come in a sort of Miller Lite-can blue.

And they make great pets:

... Gérard de Nerval, the French artist who famously kept a pet lobster, which he named Thibault. He reportedly walked the crustacean in the gardens of the Palais-Royal, on a leash. And he gave a convincing explanation for his choice in non-human companions.

"I have affection for lobsters," Nerval said. "They are tranquil, serious and they know the secrets of the sea."

NPR can point you toward a Harper's article that offers evidence for Thibault's actual existence. I will say this: As a former employee of Red Lobster, the leashed lobster story sounds entirely believable to me. I have personal experience racing lobsters and teaching them to stand on their heads.

Via GrrlScientist

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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MORE: amusements • animals • lobsters • Weird

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http://twitter.com/AntiBoredomTeam Dan Century

I find arthropod color abnormalities fascinating. Like pink katydid morphs, or cicada eye color oddities http://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/2008/06/18/close-up-photos-of-marble-colored-cicada-eyes/
http://twitter.com/AntiBoredomTeam Dan Century

I find arthropod color abnormalities fascinating. Like pink katydid morphs, or cicada eye color oddities http://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/2008/06/18/close-up-photos-of-marble-colored-cicada-eyes/
- Beanolini
  
  It’s particularly fascinating that lobster colours are mostly dietary- they come from carotenoids, which crustaceans can’t synthesise themselves- they get them from plants.
  
  But they do bind them up in proteins, which changes their colour from yellow, orange, or red to blue or green. And when a lobster’s cooked, the proteins denature, the carotenoids are released, and the lobster changes colour to pink or orange.
Kirby_G

I’ve heard tell that Sir Gerald Nabardo has a pet prawn called Simon and you wouldn’t call him a looney. Furthermore, Dawn Pailthorpe, the lady show-jumper, had a clam called Stafford, after the late Chancellor. Allan Bullock has two pikes, both called Chris, and Marcel Proust had an haddock! So, if you’re calling the author of “A la recherche du temps perdu” a looney, I shall have to ask you to step outside!
Paul Renault

I see your calico lobster and raise you a half-green/black, half-red lobster:
http://lobsterfacts.livelob.com/another_half_cooked_lobster_found.htm
kettledog

They have a little horn, and if you stand them up on it and rub their little backs, they go to sleep in a headstand. <– Things Chefs do when they have time on their hands.
- Paul Renault
  
  You also have to make a circle with their claws/arms so that they’re stable. You don’t have to rub their backs. Just hold them head down for 5-10 seconds until they become limp.
  
  That’s the thing with evolving a longish body in water; your vascular system doesn’t have good muscles so your blood pools in one part of the body. You can probably do the same thing with a sea snake.
Simon EO

This reminds me of the samurai crab from Cosmos, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heikegani
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  Giant Japanese crab? Attack it’s weak point for massive damage!
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g1fr5vk72M
  
  …. I’m sorry I had to
ryuthrowsstuff

Ehhh I would question whether Thibault lasted too long. Lobsters don’t do particularly well in captivity. Large seafood companies have trouble keeping them going for more than a few months, aquariums have issues keeping them more than a few years.

Had a high school marine bio teacher that kept one in our fish tank for about 3 years. He SWEARS he let it go to keep it from dying and DID NOT EAT IT. Certainly not with butter.
glittertrash

I kept pet freshwater crayfish (Australian yabbies) as pets for a few years. If lobsters are anything like those, they are fabulously entertaining pets with a disturbing penchant for cannibalisation.
http://www.propaganda.com David Lawrence

Hmmmm, sounds like they’re pretty aggressive and kinky according to this:

http://www.salon.com/2004/09/18/lobster_2/singleton/
kettledog

Good luck with that Sea Snake thing.
jennybean42

That lobster is coming to the Biomes center in Rhode Island! I’m very excited because for Mother’s Day they are having a supervised, “shake a tentacle” event for moms (their octopus just learned it likes to play with human fingers.)
Critical Cortex

am I the only one who feels a strong desire to hear more about Maggie teaching lobsters to do handstands? Was it the same technique as kettledog, or is there a full oeuvre of lobster gymnastic mentoring styles?
OoerictoO

Homer: crying Oh man, that’s good. sobs Pass the butter. cries again

Bart: Are you going to eat that all by yourself?

Homer: sniff Uh-huh. Pinchy would’ve wanted it this way. deep stuttering breath My dear sweet Pinchy.
- http://aqfl.net Ant
  
  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x32rqg_lobster_fun
http://obbop.wordpress.com/ obbop

Lobsters are merely large underwater insects.

Enjoy your dinner.

Then tell me that eating dog, horse or cat meat is reprehensible.
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  I’ve wondered about eating tarantulas