Clawed Gold

What taste sensation can match the buttery goodness of fresh lobster claw on the table? NOTHING, thats what. That is why the trade in these savory crustaceans has sustained an economy (and dare I say a lifestyle) off the New England coast for so very long. In the first picture fellow-traveler Louis "Longshanks" Doziere (a visiting French Canadian marine biologist) displays a large Lobster that good Captain Damian caught with HIS HANDS. Notice the similarities between the lobster and various Cray Fish I have featured in past posts. They are similar in shape (if not size) but quite distinct in taste I assure you.

In the second picture the Captain teaches Lou "Lou Dawg" Cardasis (Hip Hop Legend from the interior of our Great Commonwealth) how to check for eggs on the underside of the lobster. If a lobster has eggs they are thrown back. One thing a visitor quickly learns is how much respect and love a Lobsterman has for his shelled quarry. The good health of the fishery is always first in the mind of those who hunt therein. Lobsters that are too small or are "eggers" are returned to the sea.

A final reminiscence if I may. Having grown up in Massachusetts I spent many happy summer weeks on the Cape. One summer I remember distinctly because the man who lived in the cottage next to ours was morbidly obese and was missing a leg. I would watch our neighbor sometimes, sunning himself in his front yard, a cooler of beer within arms reach. One day he caught me staring a little too long.

"You know how I lost the leg?!" he shouted out to me.

Terrified, I shook my head no.

"A lobster snapped it off years ago, the biggest one you ever seen!" he said laughing, his sunglasses reflecting bright spears of sunlight back towards me.

Perhaps my neighbor was having a joke at the expense of a child. But the memory stays with me.

And there is a lobster, my friends, named The Admiral. He has only been seen fleetingly and he may never be caught. But he is such a beast that he very well could separate a man from his leg, even a man of my neighbor's girth. Captain Damien hopes one day to bring him in. I pray, for his sake, that he never has the chance!