Thoughts on the palatability of big (and old) fish...

[fishweewee]

This is an interesting article. I kinda wonder why anyone would want to eat such a big and old critter (assuming you weren't eating to survive). Isn't the meat tough and stringy? Wouldn't you be worried about decades (or in this case, nearly a century) of toxin accumulation? What are the odds this lobster (remember they are scavenger feeders) ate something unspeakable like a human body?

As an aside, can anyone here who's eaten 50+ lb. stripers tell me how they taste?

Are they tougher and gamier than schoolies?

-WW

'Bubba', 22-pound lobster, to be saved


PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- He could have survived two world wars and Prohibition. He also could have been dinner.

He's Bubba, a 22-pound leviathan of a lobster pulled from the waters off Nantucket, Massachusetts, and shipped to a Pittsburgh fish market.

On Tuesday, Owner Bob Wholey Wholey gave the lobster to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, which will send him to an aquarium at a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum.

"It is overwhelming," Wholey said. "If you see it, you will never forget it. Customers are just in awe."

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent Wholey a letter asking him to work with the group to release Bubba back in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Maine.

Another group calling itself People For Eating Tasty Animals reportedly offered Wholey a hefty price for the lobster. At Tuesday's price of $14.98 a pound, Bubba would retail for about $350.

Based on how long it typically takes a lobster to reach eating size -- about five to seven years to grow to a pound -- some estimate Bubba is 100 years old.

But Bob Bayer, executive director of the University of Maine's Lobster Institute, is skeptical and estimates that Bubba is likely 50 years old. Warm water and plenty of food may have more to do with a lobster's size than how long it's been alive, he said.

[Flaptail]

Ben, we all know that a sixteen inch bass is way better eating than a 30 pounder. The meat is more delicate and lighter in texture not the heavier texture of the bigger ones. Unfortunately we can't keep a couple littles one so once a year I take a 20 plus pounder home and steak her up for the BBQ. A little cajun spice/brown sugar rub and on the grille it goes. Bubba the Lobster obviously had paid his dues and was wily enough to evade capture so he deserves to live. Besides, I am told that bugs as big as bubba are tough when it comes to eating. Searuns in a month!!!!

[fishweewee]

Originally posted by Flaptail
Searuns in a month!!!!

[S-Journey]

I've helped eat a few lobsters bigger than 15#'s and they tasted just fine.

[MakoMike]

Lobsters over ten pound are like chewing on rubber bands. Don't buy them!

[kippy]

The lobster is going to the pound in the sky..

Large lobster dies after being moved to zoo
By Associated Press
Wednesday, March 2, 2005

PITTSBURGH - He dodged lobster pots for decades, endured a trip from the coast of Massachusetts to Pittsburgh and survived about a week in a fish market. But a trip to the zoo proved to be too much for a 22-pound lobster named Bubba.

The leviathan of a lobster died Wednesday afternoon at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium about a day after he was moved from Wholey's Market, said zoo spokeswoman Rachel Capp and Bob Wholey, owner of the fish market.

``They're very finicky. It could have been a change in the water. You have no idea,'' said Wholey.

Bubba died in a quarantine area of the zoo's aquarium, where he was being checked out to see if he was healthy enough to make a trip to an aquarium at a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, Capp said.

Bubba will be examined to try to figure out why he died, although Capp and Wholey guessed it may have been the stress of being moved.

Based on how long it typically takes a lobster to reach eating size - about five to seven years to grow to a pound - some estimated Bubba was about 100 years old. But marine biologists said 30 to 50 years was more likely.

Other large lobsters didn't fare well after they were caught, too.

In 1985, a 25-pound lobster that the New England Aquarium planned to give to a Tokyo museum died when the water temperature rose and the salt dropped in its aquarium. In 1990, a 17-pound lobster named Mimi died just days after being flown to a restaurant in Detroit. Last year, a 14-pound lobster named Hercules that was rescued by a Washington state middle school class died before it could be released off the coast of Maine.

[Crow]

I have been cooking professionally since 1986 and have cleanned and portioned many, many fish. In my time on the Cape, 86-87 I was working in on of Chathams better places. We served Striped bass only when our fishing contacts had a good night. These fish were usually in 30-40+lb size. Fish were filleted and sliced across the grain on a bias. This was our most popular fish special. When you have a large fish and cut it on the bias the size of the muscle is not a problem. The proportion of blood line meat is no less no more than a steak cut but I have always found it to seem less fishy from the filleted piece. The fish also cooks so much more quickly that it doesn't have a chance to get tough.
Also if the fish is fresh I see nothing strong about the flavor of a large fish when filleted. I do see however, many people cook a mid sized fish whole or cut across the bone in large chunks when doing fish at home. To me this just kills the fish. You take so long to get the center on the bone cooked that the outside meat is like sawdust. And this also allows the fishiness of the bloodline to permeate the rest of the fish spoiling the flavor.
As an aside it was at this time when I had to fillet 2 fish that I believe were over 50lbs that changed the way I saw Bass and stopped selling and keeping fish. It really hurt me to lay them out and cut them up.

[fishweewee]

bummer.

[mrmacey]

Thought you were the PRESIDENT of that Eat all healthy animals club!!

[STREETFIGHT]

I JUST HEARD BUBBA DIED....... STRESSED OUT IN THE TRANSFER FROM ONE THANK TO THE OTHER.....

[kippy]

An update on Bubba..

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A gigantic lobster that may have survived two world wars and Prohibition before being plucked from the ocean will live on -- but only as a shell of its former self.

The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium plans to keep the shell of the 22-pound lobster, named Bubba, and use its remains to educate school children, said Rachel Capp, a zoo spokeswoman.

Some of Bubba's meat will be sent to labs for testing as officials try to determine why Bubba died, Capp said Thursday.

Bubba spent a week at Wholey's fish market after he was pulled from the waters off Nantucket, Massachusetts. He died Wednesday, after he was moved from the fish market to a quarantine area at the zoo's aquarium. He was being checked to see if he was healthy enough to make a trip to an aquarium at a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum.

Randy Goodlett, a marine biologist and former curator and director of the zoo's Aqua Zoo, said the lobster likely died because something was slightly off in the salt water mixture it was living in. Capp guessed it might have been the stress of being moved so many times.

Based on how long it typically takes a lobster to reach eating size -- about five to seven years to grow to a pound -- some estimated Bubba was about 100 years old. Marine biologists said 30 to 50 years was more likely.

[tynan19]

Poor buba.

[NIB]

I don't think they would make good pallets at all.

[CAL]

Never seen lobster at $15/lb and the higher priced ones are the small ones. Wouldn't Bubba have been more like $5/lb?

Haven't met a lobster I didn't like. I'd have have eaten him anyway

[Raven]

just use more ketchup