Answer:
Lobsters decompose very rapidly after they die.  Unless they are flash frozen they may take some time to freeze in your freezer after death.  Therefore, in our Scientists opinion it would not be safe to eat.

Answer:
This could simply be due to the fact that dark discoloured lobsters are usually lobsters with old shell while bright coloured ones are often recently moulted lobsters that haven't had a chance to 'fill up' with meat yet.

Answer:
Simply gently place the crayfish in boiling water, head/legs first.

Answer:
Lobsters start to decompose very rapidly, for that reason, it is not recommended to cook and eat dead lobster unless you know that the lobster died merely moments before being frozen.  In the case of frozen lobster tails, the tails are frozen immediately after being removed from the lobster and do not have time to decompose before they are frozen. 

Answer:
The lobster has a digestive system which consists of a long tract divided into three main regions: the foregut, midgut, and hindgut. Food is handled and processed first by the mouthparts and then is crushed by the mandibles before being swallowed. It then makes its way through the three main regions of the digestive system. Any remaining material (not digested) is packaged into fecal pellets surrounding by a mucous membrane. Contractions of the midgut force the pellets along to the hindgut and into the enlarged rectum. Rapid rectal contractions push the pellets out the anus at the base of the tail.

Answer:
For freshness, it is recommended that you cook live lobsters immediately within 24 hours of purchase. Live lobsters can be stored up to two days if placed in the coldest part of the refrigerator in the bag they were in at the time of purchase or in an open container. It is best to keep them moist with a damp towel or newspaper. Do not immerse lobsters in water or place on ice in an airtight container as they will suffocate and die. If you keep them at this cold temperature as described above, they will stay in their "hibernation state" until you're ready to cook them.

Answer:
 It’s best not to defrost the lobster and simply reheated for two minutes in boiling water. Once you have reheated the lobster, you can use it as called for in any recipe.  

Full Question:
When Chinese people prepare lobster they have a procedure called "releasing the urine" (放尿)--> chopstick is inserted into a little hole near the tail (anus?) about 10cm deep and then withdrawn, and usually murky liquids will gush out of it. They claim that lobster cooked without this procedure will often taste "funny" or brackish or stale. Have you ever heard of this and is this true?

Answer:
First of all, the orifice near the end of the tail is in fact the anus.  Therefore, the murky liquid that comes out after the chopstick is removed is faeces, not urine.  Urine would come out of the excretory pore, located at the base of the antennas.  Nowadays, most live lobster shippers would first 'season' their lobsters before shipping.  Seasoning is the term industry used to refer to a period of  2-3 days where lobsters are held before they are sold to consumers; this period should allow for the gastro-intestinal tract to empty itself.  A less traumatic alternative to the chopstick method!

Answer:
This reddish color stuff found inside the cooked lobster at the base of the body and along the tail is the female lobster's roe or eggs.  It is considered a gourmet treat by some people. Also, The colour of the tomalley will vary somewhat based on the lobster's diet.  Also, we sometime see a very dark, almost gooey tomalley when lobsters are not fully cooked.

Answer:

If the lobster is maintained at 1 to 3C it will remain good for three to four days.

Answer:

There are no parts on the lobster that are poisonous. However, the 'sac' or stomach of the lobster, which is located behind the eyes, can be filled with shell particles, bones from bait and digestive juices that are not very tasty. The tomalley is the lobster's liver and hepatopancreas. It is often thought to be a delicious treat; however many advise against eating the tomalley. Much like the liver of other animals, the lobster's tomalley is the natural filter to prevent contaminants, like dioxins, from entering the system. It is a reassuring indication of the lobster's natural defense system at work, keeping the lobster meat wholesome, nutritious and delicious.

Answer:

For nutrition information on lobster, one site we found by searching the internet is www.tastelobster.ca/english/nutrition.html

Full Question:
I've been searching the internet looking for discussion of a problem I had cooking up some lobsters. I hope you can help me with it. Here is the problem: When we opened up the five thoroughly boiled lobsters (1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pounds each), the tails of three of them contained a black gooey substance. The substance was not smelly and was generally confined to the base of the tail..not the end. The substance had a mildly unpleasant taste sort of brackish. Can you folks tell me what the substance was. Could it be a secretion caused by improperly boiling the lobsters. All were boiled for about eight to twelve minutes but in some cases the boiling stopped temporarily when the lobster was placed in the pot of hot water. I appreciate your help with this.

Answer:

The black gooey substance was likely the tomalley (hepatopancreas) of the lobsters that probably weren’t cooked long enough.

Full Question:
This may seem like a silly question, but my friends tell me of this old wives' tale that if you eat the brain/head of a lobster then you could die. They mentioned something like a poison called "old woman in a rocking chair". It sounds ridiculous to me so could you clarify this for me?

Answer:

There are no parts on the lobster that are poisonous. However, what you are referring to is the 'sac' or stomach of the lobster and it is located behind the eyes. It can be filled with shell particles, bones from bait and digestive juices that are not very tasty.

Answer:

There are no parts on the lobster that are poisonous. However, the 'sac' or stomach of the lobster, which is located behind the eyes, can be filled with shell particles, bones from bait and digestive juices that are not very tasty. The tomalley is the lobster's liver and hepatopancreas. It is often thought to be a delicious treat; however many advise against eating the tomalley. Much like the liver of other animals, the lobster's tomalley is the natural filter to prevent contaminants, like dioxins, from entering the system. It is a reassuring indication of the lobster's natural defense system at work, keeping the lobster meat wholesome, nutritious and delicious.

Full Question:
We have an annual Lobsterfest where we cook about a ton of lobster to support a Kiwanis Club fund raising activity. Two years ago, we experienced a large number of the lobsters turned black and were quite soft and mushy inside. There has been an on-going discussion regarding the cause of this blackness. One side says that the lobster turned black because they were not cooked enough. The other side maintains that the reason the lobster turned black is because they were bad to begin with. We would very much appreciate your learned opinion on what would cause this blackening and spoiling of the lobster.

Answer:

When many lobsters turn black during/after cooking, I tend to think that they were improperly cooked. When the internal temperature during cooking doesn’t reach a certain level, the enzyme ‘phenoloxidase’ can get activated, resulting in the deposition of melanin, or black pigment. The blackening can affect only part of the lobster, or almost the entire inside of the animal. The only guideline for properly cooking lobsters is that internal temperature must reach 80 °C.

Full Question:
I have eaten many lobsters in my lifetime and never experienced anything like this. Just came back from a seafood restaurant after having a lobster. When I rip the tail from the body, there was a black clump inside the body. It looked like the liver but more clumpy, like black custard. What is that? Am I going to be sick with this?

Answer:

It looks/sounds like your lobster was just about to extrude her eggs or was in the process of absorbing them. Lobsters may absorb developing oocytes (eggs) rather than maturing & spawning them. This is generally considered abnormal & may be brought on by environmental or physiological stress, however resorption can also occur in natural populations if the molting & reproductive cycles conflict. There are no parts on the lobster that are poisonous so you should be fine.

Answer:

Once lobsters die they decompose really fast, and therefore, bacterial proliferation can be significant. The bacterial contamination comes from the gut content; after death, the lining of the gut decompose rapidly, allowing bacteria to leak into to surrounding tissues which for the most part is the tail. The bacteria produced can be harmful to you if you eat the lobster.

Answer:

We often hear about cooked lobsters that are black. I can think of three reasons for that: 1) Female lobsters with eggs that are ready to be extruded. Although not fertilized yet, the eggs are more or less black. However, I would think that heat should be sufficient to turn the eggs into a reddish color. 2) Female lobsters with non-extruded eggs that for what ever reason decided not to release the eggs (I assume some stressors, or non-optimal environmental conditions?). The eggs are then reabsorbed. And the black pigment is redistributed within the animals. Part of the flesh is then blackish, even after cooking. This is usually the case when one lobster (a female, obviously) turns black in a group of several. 3) Lobsters that are not cooked properly (insufficient cooking temperature). I believe the prophenoloxidase (ProPO) system can then be activated at certain temperature resulting on massive deposition of melanin throughout the animal. This certain temperature is normally exceeded by proper cooking and therefore, the ProPO system isn't activated. This is usually the case when several, most or all lobsters turn black in a group of lobsters being cooked together. Normally, the lobster internal temperature should reach 80 °C for it to be properly cooked.

Answer:

Lobsters do not have vocal cords, so they can't cry. The whistling sound is just the steam escaping/being released from the shell.

Answer:

A 1/2kg lobster yields approximately 236 grams of meat.

Answer:

For freshness, it is recommended that you cook live lobsters immediately within 24 hours of purchase. Live lobsters can be stored up to two days if placed in the coldest part of the refrigerator in the bag they were in at the time of purchase or in an open container. It is best to keep them moist with a damp towel or newspaper. Do not immerse lobsters in water or place on ice in an airtight container as they will suffocate and die. If you keep them at this cold temperature as described above, they will stay in their "hibernation state" until you're ready to cook them.

Answer:

A lobster is cooked when it is bright red in colour and when the legs and antennae can be pulled off easily. The tomalley should be green and firm, the roe bright red and the meat white, elastic and opaque.

Answer:

The shell color is made up of pigments. When it is cooked, all the pigments are masked except for astaxanthin, which is the red background pigment.