Green Lobsters With Strange Meat

November 13, 2008

Question: A buddy of mine got two lobsters in San Diego Bay over the weekend. While he was cleaning them he noticed green algae on their shells and then found the meat to be white, looking like it was already cooked. Both lobsters were still alive when detailing them. Have you heard any other stories like this? Would they have still been okay to cook and eat? (Ray C., San Diego)

Answer: According to our lobster experts Kristine Barsky and Doug Neilson, when you find a lobster with algae on its shell (exoskeleton) it usually means it hasn’t molted in quite awhile. This should be nothing to worry about though. An animal getting ready to molt pulls salts out of its existing shell and creates a soft exoskeleton underneath it that will expand with water and salts once the animal molts. Our best guess is that the old exoskeleton may have been overgrown and what your friend encountered (white, cooked-looking meat) could have been the new exoskeleton just under the old making the meat look differently. As long as the animal was acting normally and still alive before he got ready to cook it, there was probably no problem with the meat.

One test seafood businesses use when cooking whole lobsters is whether they curl. The shell should turn to a darker red color and the tail tends to curl (not tightly, but it’s difficult to lay the animal flat). If there’s no curl, they discard the animal.