Uncommon Descent, for some reason, just posted a link to an article about a blue lobster. This isn’t the first time that a blue lobster has been found, and there are even rarer yellow and albino variants that are known. Since there is, as the UD article points out, a trade in blue crayfish, it’s reasonable to assume that the blue coloration in lobsters is a heritable. All that leaves me wondering something: exactly why did the folks at Uncommon Descent decide to highlight this example?
The UD article contains the following gem:
Apparently, there is a trade in blue crayfish for aquariums, but any similar trade on blue lobsters depends on finding another one, of the opposite sex.
Does it really?
I didn’t take a lot of time to research the genetic mechanisms underpinning lobster coloration (frankly, it’s not a topic that fascinates me). I did find, however, that there’s reason to suspect that the blue coloration is the result of a recessive trait (a paper I found noted that a prior study had found that blue offspring only occur when two blue lobsters mate). If that’s the case, does a would-be purveyor of blue lobsters really need two blue lobsters to get the business off the ground?