Why do LOBSTER turn bright red when boiled?

Tweet

Wouldn't you get flushed if you were dumped into a vat of boiling water? But seriously, before the lobster gets boiled, it has dark purplish-bluish color. But hidden in the exoskeleton of the lobsters (and shrimp) is a pigment called astaxanthin, in a class of compounds called carotenoids. We spoke to Robert Rofen, of the Aquatic Research Institute, and Ray Bauer, of the Biology Department at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette who explained that astaxanthin is connected to protein. when you boil lobsters, though, the pigment separates from the protein and returns to it's true color, which is the bright red associated with white wine and hefty credit card bills.