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When I was a child, I saw an awesome large long watermelon (I'm guessing about 2.5 to 3.5 feet long and 1 to 1.7 feet thick, but I could be off considering I might have seen it in a garden catalog instead of in person). It was an awesome looking green one, probably with stripes, as is common for large watermelons. However, it had a cool red spot on the side (on the outside), maybe a few inches long (a kind of oval-shaped spot, with the long part of the oval going the same direction as the long part of the watermelon). The red spot was about the color of red watermelon on the inside (so, it was very red).

I've heard of moon and stars watermelons, and they have spots, but the spots aren't red.

So, what variety of watermelon (citrullus lanatus) has a (one) solid ruby red or crimson spot (maybe egg-sized, if the melon is 25+lbs) on the exterior of the rind of the fruit, wherein the rest of the exterior of the rind of the fruit is green? These are sometimes striped and sometimes not. I don't have a picture, nor do I have a way of obtaining a picture without knowing what it is, and I don't have the melon (I just saw either the melon or a picture of it ages ago).

Any green-skinned watermelon variety that may produce a red spot will suffice in answering the question. If you know of a watermelon with multiple red spots or that only sometimes has one or more red spots, that will also suffice. I've been curious about this for a long time. I should note, however, that melons with red skin do exist (the tigger melon for instance, although the tigger melon isn't a watermelon; there are also red-skinned cucumbers), but I'm only looking for a spot on an otherwise normal-looking watermelon.

RubberDuck
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Brōtsyorfuzthrāx
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2 Answers2

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Watermelons sometimes do develop red stains, but I cannot find any sources on why or how often this happens. A fun fact is that these spots gave rise to a Romani legend of "vampire watermelons" and other fruits like pumpkins, with the red blotches a sign that the fruit has "turned." Really!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vampire_watermelon.jpg

MaSh
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Such a watermelon does not exist. Perhaps you saw a sticker on it (these are often oval and red), and the pic was blurred. Other than that, it could have been paint I guess, unless people photoshopped back then.

While watermelon does contain two red biological pigments (a carotenoid called beta-carotene, which have vitamin A activity, thus the health aspect of this pigment for humans, and another carotenoid called lycopene, which is necessary for the biosynthesis of the beta-carotene), they contain these only in the fruit center, with more buildup toward the center of the fruit. Watermelons do not ever support formation of these pigments in chromoplasts outside of the fruit flesh (ie, the rind or skin).

J. Musser
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  • It was possibly paint or something (or maybe part of the spot on rind was cut out and I didn't notice it), but it looked real and natural. Even if it was real, though, it might have been a special fluke variety that only belonged to one family (who didn't advertise it), and it may not exist anymore. I can't decide if my neighbor had it or if it was in a catalog, or if I dreamed it or something. If no one else answers in the next several days or so, I plan to accept your answer, though. – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Nov 16 '14 at 06:15