10/27/2025
Hampton Beach multicolored lobsters return to sea with tags: If you catch one, let it go
Ellen Goethel
In my last article, I mentioned that I was going to tag our multicolored lobsters at the Hampton Beach Oceanarium and return them to the Gulf of Maine.
Thanks to Josh Carloni at New Hampshire Fish and Game, two orange lobsters, a calico, and our blue lobster are all tagged and fending for themselves off the New Hampshire coast.
I had no idea how to tag a lobster so the tag would stay in place after molting. We brought a few into the Fish and Game office in Durham, where Josh demonstrated the tagging tool. It works much like the plastic tagger used for clothing in stores. Using the device, the tag is inserted into the hinge between the lobster’s cephalothorax (head) and tail — the part that splits open during molting. Because the tag sits in the meat rather than the shell, it remains intact through the molt and doesn’t interfere with the lobster shedding its exoskeleton.
The tags have a number and the phone number of the Marine Division of NH Fish and Game. We are asking anyone who captures one of the lobsters to take the number, call Fish and Game, and return the animal back to the sea. We are hoping that because the animals are strangely colored, the tags will be noticed more easily than a tag on a typical lobster. With each report, we will learn a little more about lobster migration and behavior.
It is always bittersweet returning animals that you have cared for to their natural environment, and I will admit that I said goodbye to them and wished them well. They were all feisty as they swam away. I hate to admit it, but I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it, as I was very seasick and wishing I were on land. Yes, I get seasick. The bane of my existence, but being the wife of a commercial fisherman, I have spent many miserable days as crew when the regular crew didn’t show up.
Well, the tanks are all shut down for the winter, and I expect to spend some free time. Check on our page for updates on any of our tagged lobsters!
Ellen Goethel is a marine biologist and the owner of Explore the Ocean World Oceanarium at 367 Ocean Blvd. at Hampton Beach.
