Lobster casualties
An estimated US $2 million worth of lobsters were found either dead or ill off the coast of Maine in the US in 1998. Though some of these lobsters were found to have bacterial infections, researchers believe that the mystery infection is not bacterial. Maya Crosby, marine biologist with the University of Maine, says something else is at work, weakening the creatures. In the recent years, Crosby notes, the lobsters have become more prone to bacterial infections. However, the illness poses no risk to humans, she assures, because toxins present in the lobsters are killed when they are cooked.