David Bowie, a Lobster Way Too Rare to Eat

We have noticed rare lobsters before. An even rarer specimen – a half-red, half-blue, bi-gendered creature – has wandered into a Maine lobsterman’s pot.

“Nobody I've talked to in the harbor has ever seen one like this either,” fifth-generation lobster fisherman Jacob Knowles tells NPR. “So, that speaks pretty loudly.”

A bicolored lobster is a one in 50 million occurence, according to New England Aquarium biologist Jordan Baker. “There are these embryo mutations or changes in that ontogenetic development,” she explains. “The combination of embryos or division that basically make two different animals.”

This lobster’s bifurcation is even more pronounced, as it is (they are?) half-male, half-female. The blue half is male, naturally.

Knowles, who has a substantial social media following, showed off his rare catch on TikTok and Instagram, instigating a name-the-lobster contest among his fans. Suggestions included Two-Face, Icy Hot, Lobstery McLobsterface, and, Knowles' personal favorite, 50 Percent.

But ultimately the voters decided on the rather apt moniker “David Bowie,” after the late rock star who had different colored eyes and who also maintained a consistently androgynous brand.

For a lobster the best thing about being such a weirdo is that you are too rare to eat. For now, Knowles keeps Bowie in a pot that he checks in on occasionally; he’s mulling what to do with them next.

Baker is hoping the bi-colored, dual-gendered creature ends up in her aquarium. “A lot of lobstermen in our area, in Maine and the rest of New England have been really generous when they find these rarities and offer them to us,” she said, nudge-nudge.

Photo credit: Jacob Knowles / NPR