In 1978, a French research team caught ten furry lobsters off the coast of Tahiti. Hairy lobsters are certainly unusual. After carefully recording of the facts for each lobster, instead of keeping the lobsters alive or preserving them for further study, what was done to them?

McGruff

I'm guessing they ate them, but not finding that fact. Probably threw them back. Kiwa hirsuta is a crustacean discovered in 2005 in the South Pacific Ocean. This decapod, which is approximately 15 cm (6 inches) long, is notable for the quantity of silky blond setae (resembling fur) covering its pereiopods (thoracic legs, including claws). Its discoverers dubbed it the "yeti lobster" or "yeti crab." K. hirsuta was discovered in March 2005 by a group organized by Robert Vrijenhoek of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Monterey, California and Michel Segonzac of the Ifremer and a Census of Marine Life scientist using the submarine DSV Alvin, operating from RV Atlantis.[3] The discovery was announced on 7 March 2006. It was found 1,500 km (900 miles) south of Easter Island in the South Pacific, at a depth of 2,200 m (7,200 feet), living on hydrothermal vents along the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge. Based on both morphology and molecular data, the species was deemed to form a new genus and family (Kiwaidae). The animal has strongly reduced eyes that lack pigment, and is thought to be blind. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwa_hirsuta The "Yeti Crab", as it has been dubbed, is white and 15cm (5.9in) long, according to Michel Segonzac of the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer). In what he has described as a "surprising characteristic", the animal's pincers are covered with sinuous, hair-like strands. It seems to reside around some Pacific deep sea hydrothermal vents, which spew out fluids that are toxic to many animals. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4785482.stm Aug 10 10, 8:57 AM

McGruff

This appears to be a different species of lobster that has a "furry shell" and makes a chirping sound similar to a cricket - also discovered by a French team in the 1980's. The reference to eating it is rather flippant, so not so likely to be true. http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/enviro/EnviroRepublish_1409156.htm "Rumour has it the French researchers who discovered the world's first specimen in the 1980s didn't realise its significance. So, they ate it for dinner." Aug 10 10, 9:08 AM