Marine Living

When you think of a lobster, you might think of a bright red creature. Most lobsters are a brown to olive-green color in the wild, with only a reddish tinge.

Lobsters have a carotenoid pigment called astaxanthin in their shell, which provides a red coloring. However, in most lobsters, this reddish color is mixed with other colors to form the lobster's normal coloration. Astaxanthin is stable in heat, while the other pigments are not. This means that when a lobster is cooked, the other pigments break down, leaving only the bright red astaxanthin, thus a bright red lobster on your plate! More on lobster coloration.

View the original article here