September 25 has been National Lobster Day since 2014 when senators Angus King and Susan Collins of Maine brought a joint resolution to Congress. For the eighth annual holiday, check out these fun facts about lobsters.
- Blue Lobster: One in two million lobsters are bright blue as a result of the pigment astaxanthin undergoes abnormal binding to proteins.
- White Lobster: When confronted by law enforcement, Colombian drug smugglers often dump their illicit cocaine into the ocean. Lobster fishermen in Nicaragua recover the cocaine so frequently they created a name for it: "white lobster."
- Red Lobster: In 1938, at the age of the 19, the eventual founder of Red Lobster Bill Darden opened a diner named the Green Frog and defied the laws of the southern state Georgia by refusing to segregate customers based on race.
- Immortal-ish Lobster: Lobsters become stronger and more fertile with age. However, they're not immune to disease and predation or giant rocks. They also lose their ability to molt. They can live to 100.
- Political Lobster: In 1996, Mary Tyler Moore offered a restaurant $1,000 to sell her a 65 year-old lobster so she could return it to the wild. Rush Limbaugh then offered $2,000 to eat the lobster. The restaurant denied both offers and kept the lobster as a mascot.
- Golf Lobster: Dumping golf balls in the sea is illegal littering, so a professor at the University of Maine used ground-up lobster shells to develop biodegradable golf balls. These balls are used on cruise ships or driving ranges by the ocean.
- Cheap Lobster: In the 1800s, lobster was very abundant in New England— so abundant that Massachusetts servants demanded a clause in their contracts to limit lobster dinners to no more than three times per week.
