'Fiona.'
Posted on 06/12/2009 5:29:46 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Eastham, MA (AHN) - A rare yellow-and-orange lobster has found a new home at Arnold's Lobster and Clam Bar in this city.
Arnold's owner, Nathan "Nick" Nickerson, was given the lobster by a friend and created a home for the lobster, named Fiona, in his eatery's lobster tank, The Boston Globe reported.
Fiona weighs in at a pound and three-quarters, but it's her coloring that makes her rare. Her spotted orange-and-yellow combination makes her one in about 30 million, specialists told the Globe.
Fiona was caught sometime in the last few weeks off the coast of Prince Edward Island, Canada.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime lobster you'll see," said Michael R. Gagne, 46, sales manager at Ipswich Shellfish Company Inc., who gave the lobster to Nickerson.
A rare genetic mutation may be the source of rare lobsters like Fiona, according to Michael F. Tlusty, director of research at the New England Aquarium.
The lobster's rare coloring may be to blame for their small numbers.
"If you're swimming over a muddy bottom, it would be much easier to see a yellow lobster than a normal-colored lobster," Tlusty told the Globe.
Nickerson, 57, has never seen a lobster like Fiona, so he spoils her. He feeds his lobsters cod fish, but Fiona eats meals of sushi quality Yellowfin tuna.
"The odds of catching them [yellows] as they move around the bottom are like the odds of going out into a football field and finding a dime that someone lost 80 years ago," David J. Casoni, secretary-treasurer of the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association, told the Globe. "The blue lobster is still rare, but we get them more often."
Nickerson plans on keeping Fiona for the time being, eventually donating her to the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Bewster or the New England Aquarium, but there's no chance she'll end up on a dinner plate.
"Gosh no!" Nickerson told the Globe. "That would be like steaming a Rembrandt."
'Fiona.'
Nathan Nickerson, owner of Cape Cod's Arnold's Lobster and Clam Bar, says a the rare yellow lobster, right, was caught off the coast of Prince Edward Island in Canada.
Yummmm.
I prefer my lobsters to be red.
Nice. Now let’s boil some water and met butter.
I buy the phoney lobster now....It gets rid of the craving at a price I can afford. Sad...but....
That’s racist!
Nice 3-pounder on the left. Good eatin’. And, best of all... lobster’s cheap around these parts right now. You can get them fresh off the boat for $3.99/lb.
He will get much better business and more attention to his restaurant by keeping it alive.
Only one way to find out what color she turns after cookin. ;o)
Looks a lot like a lobster that has just come out of the steaming pot. It isn’t “done” since it is not red enough.
Arnolds is a great place to eat
I have no reason to doubt you. My brother-in-law is a lobster fisherman in Maine so that is where I get the bulk of my lobsters.
This can only end badly...
The lobster was considering running for the Senate as a Republican.
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