Lobster season is almost over!

[thecrab87]

Crap, only 160 hours left of lobster season. Everyone better get on it!

[thecrab87]

Got one on a daytime dive yesterday! Left behind a legal with eggs and 3 shorts.

My wife liked it, although my son isn't too sure......

[sdbr911]

Hey Willie - that thing looks way different than the ones we get here. I knew the east coast had different bugs, but I guess I never thought that hawaiin bugs would be different. Am I wrong? Very cool coloring.

[thecrab87]

We have two different species of "spiny" lobsters in Hawaii, with very different coloring.

The spiny lobsters that I saw in CA looked different from both of them. It's entirely possible that they are a different species. Yours certainly seem to get bigger. It's not that common to get a 4#+ bug here.

Here's some pictures of coolers full of our larger spiny. The top picture is more normal. The bottom ones seemed to be redder than usual for some reason. Could just be the flash.

These pics are back from my lobster killing days.... I'm happy to get a couple now.

Oh yeah, those crabs with the red spots are not cooked. That's the way they look when you catch them. The legend goes that when the demi-god Maui caught one, it pinched him and drew blood. His bloody fingers left spots on the shell, and the crab has been spotted ever since.

[sdbr911]

Very cool info and pics.....thanks Willie.

[mattymatt]

Hey willie what kind of crabs are those? Are they good eating?

[thecrab87]

Hey willie what kind of crabs are those? Are they good eating?

They're called 7-11 crabs (because viewed one way, you see 11 spots and viewed another, you see 7 spots).

They are delicious! Very sweet meat, but a very, very thick shell. Don't let one get your finger, you'll lose a nail.

[Bill McIntyre]

I've noticed that as you go west across the Pacific, the spiny lobsters get more colorful and more delicate. Many years ago I flew an F-4 from California to Da Nang, South Vietnam, diving in Hawaii, Wake, Guam, and the Phillipines. By the time I got to the Phillipines, they were very colorful and had much slimmer legs.

They didn't let me dive in Vietnam, although a friend stationed down in Chu Lai did a lot of diving and got lots of lobsters, and was very popular with his superiors because he had them over to his hut for dinner. He didn't tell me what color they were.

[mnguy]

I've noticed that as you go west across the Pacific, the spiny lobsters get more colorful and more delicate. Many years ago I flew an F-4 from California to Da Nang, South Vietnam, diving in Hawaii, Wake, Guam, and the Phillipines. By the time I got to the Phillipines, they were very colorful and had much slimmer legs.

They didn't let me dive in Vietnam, although a friend stationed down in Chu Lai did a lot of diving and got lots of lobsters, and was very popular with his superiors because he had them over to his hut for dinner. He didn't tell me what color they were.

The ones in Vietnam are usually a creamy white with light green tinting in places, some black on the spines. At least, those are the ones that they had in the bug traps at the restaurants in Mui Ne and Vung Tau last time I was there.