History Main / RedLiveLobster

While lobsters may be red when cooked, the natural colors of most lobsters are usually a brown, olive-green, or gray when alive and in the wild, which helps conceal them on the ocean floor from predators. They get their shell color from a class of red and yellow pigments called astaxanthin.

However, most people don't know this. [[SmallTaxonomyPools Lobsters only ever come in one variety in fiction]] (the Maine lobster), and even worse, especially in animation, they tend to be colored bright red. The reason many people think Maine lobster is naturally red is because, to put it in non-scientific words, they turn red when cooked. To elaborate, when lobsters are cooked, the proteins that astaxanthin bind to are destroyed, changing the shell colors to a red pigment.

SubTrope of ArtisticLicenseMarineBiology, FunnyAnimalAnatomy, and TypicalCartoonAnimalColors. Compare AmazingTechnicolorWildlife for when animals are intentionally ''vividly'' colorful.

Despite the name, this trope can apply to crabs, crayfish, and other decapods since the trope can include them too. The reason for the name is because lobsters are the most common victim to this trope.

[[caption-width-right:350:Clockwise from the top left: [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid Sebastian]], [[VideoGame/Pikmin2 a hermit crawmad]], [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy the Iraq Lobster]], and [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants Larry the Lobster]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': When a storm strikes the town during their annual Lobsterfest celebration, Gene, Tina, and Louise come across a wild and very red lobster. They plan to cook because their father, who finds lobsters disgusting due to his allergies, has never let them try any.

* In one ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' strip, Jason plans on sneaking up on Peter while he's swimming to scare him, by dressing as a red lobster. The plan takes an unexpected twist, as Jason gets pinched by an actual lobster off-screen.

* One monster from ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'', Ebirah is a crustacean kaiju coloured bright red, first appearing in ''Film/EbirahHorrorOfTheDeep''. Depending on the source, he's either an actual lobster or a giant mutant shrimp.
* The giant crab in ''Film/MysteriousIsland'' is red because Creator/RayHarryhausen pragmatically used an actual cleaned crab shell to house the stop-motion armature. Easier to get one that was cooked...

* Ultimately subverted by ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown''. In one case, Bugs Meany offers a kid lessons on how to hypnotize a lobster and takes an instant color photo of himself performing the stunt in order to prove he's legitimate. But when Encyclopedia sees the photo of Bugs "hypnotizing" a bright red lobster, he knows it was already boiled and dead at the time, and Bugs returns the kid's money.

* Johnny Crawfish in ''Series/TheNoddyShop'' is reddish-orange in color, but has small areas on his body that are grey.
* The ''Series/RobotWars'' entrant Thermidor 2, which was designed to look like a giant lobster, was painted red in all of its appearances.

* The Spyro franchise: The levels Aquaria Towers in ''VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage'' and Lost Fleet in ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon'' feature bright red crab enemies. Both games also have blue crabs, but they are only associated with Ice Worlds.

* The ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' episode "Gadget Goes Hawaiian" sees Gadget attempt to pass a series of queenship tests. The first of the tests is to swim across the lobster tank in the resort hotel's restaurant. The tank's lobsters are all crimson red, have unbanded pinchers, and are fiercely territorial. Despite their adversity, Gadget succeeds in making the crossing.
* In a CutawayGag from [[Recap/FamilyGuyS10E3ScreamsOFSilenceTheStoryOfBrendaQ this]] VerySpecialEpisode from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter sings "Iraq Lobster" to the tune of "Rock Lobster" by Music/TheB52s, complete with a red lobster dancing while dressed as a Muslim.
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}''. The mascot of Filmore's school is a lobster, which, surprisingly, is shown as a brownish-green color. In one episode, the lobster mascot is kidnapped, and one of the suspects is caught with a lobster in a bag. A red lobster, which means it was cooked. Fortunately, it turns out not to be the mascot lobster.
* Dr Zoidberg from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is a humanoid lobster alien. He and his species are red in colour.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' episode "Maine Course", Jon gets a lobster to cook, but the lobster turns out to be alive, so they decide to not cook it. The lobster is notably red.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'', Dr. Blowhole's lobster minions (including [[GiantMook Chrome Claw]]) are all bright red.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SharkyAndGeorge'' one of the villains is a German-accented lobster who is named either Red Lobster or Colonel Klaw depending on the dub. As the former name indicates, he's a red lobster, though it's relatively downplayed, as only his back and claws are red, whereas his face and abdomen are grey. The trope is averted with his minions, who are black crabs.

* Larry the Lobster and Mr. Krabs from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' are each an anthropomorphic red-colored lobster and crab, respectively. Justified for Larry, as he tans a lot.

* In a CutawayGag from [[Recap/FamilyGuyS10E3ScreamsOFSilenceTheStoryOfBrendaQ this]] VerySpecialEpisode from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter sings "Iraq Lobster", complete with a red lobster dancing while dressed as a Muslim.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Civilization}} Civilization 6]]'': Crab resources show up as a bunch of red crabs underwater, and the resource symbol is a red crab as well. This is particularly jarring, as they show up as appropriately blue-grey in previous entries.

* In ''VideoGame/StardewValley'', lobsters, shrimp, and crabs caught in a crab pot are red or red-orange in color even before being cooked. They are, in fact, still alive, since they can be placed in a fish pond. The crayfish is an exception to the trope, being grey in color.

* Herb of ''WebAnimation/AngryDog'' is a stereotypically red lobster.

** Ebidramon is a Champion/Ultimate (Adult/Perfect) level Digimon which resembles a cross between a giant mechanical red lobster and a dragon. It makes appearances in ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'', ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'', ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'' and ''Anime/DigimonAdventure2020''.

* The Spyro franchise: The levels Aquaria Towers in ''VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage'' and Lost Fleet in ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon'' feature bright red lobster enemies. Both games also have blue lobsters, but they are only associated with Ice Worlds.

** Which could further explain why Chef Louis is so surprised Sebastian was a live one and how gung-ho he was to kill him. By all means Sebastian should have already been dead.

* Ultimately subverted by ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown''. In one case, Bugs Meany offers a kid lessons on how to hypnotize a lobster, and takes an instant color photo of himself performing the stunt in order to prove he's legitimate. But when Encyclopedia sees the photo of Bugs "hypnotizing" a bright red lobster, he knows it was already boiled and dead at the time, and Bugs returns the kid's money.

** Corphish and Crawdaunt are crayfish, and are likewise both red.

* ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussyCats'' take a break on a beach. Alexandra tries to seduce Alan with a hula dance, and grabs a nearby grass skirt. She somehow fails to notice a crimson crab on the leafy green skirt, and wears it around her hips. The crab dislikes all the motion, and pinches Alexandra's glutes to steady itself. She gets very wiggly with this impromptu prompting.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SharkyAndGeorge'' one of the villains is a German-accented lobster who is named either Red Lobster or Colonel Klaw depending on the dub. As the former name indicates, he's a red lobster, though it's relatively downplayed, as only his back and claws are red, whereas his face and abdomen is grey. The trope is averted with his minions, who are black crabs.

* The ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoon "Salt Water Tabby" has the cat and mouse duo visit a public beach. There, they encounter a vivid red antagonistic crab that tends to pinch Tom, and nearly snips Jerry in two.

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* Larry the Lobster and Mr. Krabs from ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' are each an anthropomorphic red-colored lobster and crab, respectively. Justified for Larry, as he tans a lot.

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Real lobsters aren't ''always'' brownish-green, though. There are the 1 in 1,000 blue lobsters. Even rarer, around 1 in 10,000, are cotton candy lobsters (they definitely don't taste or smell like cotton candy though). Even brilliant red-colored lobsters as red as seen on TV do exist, caused by a rare genetic abnormality, which occur in one in 10 million cases.

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* One monster from ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'', Ebirah is a crustacean kaiju coloured bright red, first appearing in ''Film/EbirahHorrorOfTheDeep''. Depending on the source, he's either an actual lobster or a giant mutant shrimp.

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