too many words by laura lemay

furry cricket lobster

If you told me there’s a lobster in Australia covered with fur that rubs its legs together and chirps like a cricket I’d laugh at you and say “pull the other one.”

Of course if you had been the same person to tell me that octopodes roll up their legs and run along the sea floor you already would have.

The musical furry lobster was actually found by French researchers in the 1980s but they didn’t realize it was important. So they ate it.

This most recent specimen was caught by fishermen who at least noticed that it was something different, so they stuck it in a bucket on the ship for a week. Eventually a scientist in Queensland with a clue got ahold of it.

This furry lobster is a new genus of crustacean. Furry lobsters are family Synaxidae; the family includes Palinurellus gundlachi (Caribbean furry lobster) and
Palinurellus wieneckii (indo-pacific furry lobster). This lobster, however is Palibythus magnificus, the musical furry lobster.

No word on whether they taste good steamed with butter. (must contact the French.)