UPI – A fishing crew off the shore of Maine found an ultra-rare orange lobster and decided to donate the crustacean to the University of New England.
Captain Gregg Turner and his crew, Sage Blake and Mandy Cyr, caught the lobster while fishing aboard the boat Deborah and Megan.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen one and the second time Captain Gregg has,” Cyr told the Portland Press-Herald. “It’s pretty exciting.”
Orange lobsters are believed to account for only about one in 30 million lobsters, making them 30 times more uncommon than blue lobsters.
The crew donated the lobster to the University of New England for study.
Researchers said the lobster is missing a claw, and studying how the claw grows back could offer them some answers as to the origins of the orange colouration.
“One of the things we’re going to be able to see here is that is her colour due to genetics or is it due to the environment. As she grows it back, is it going to be the gorgeous orange or is it going to be a different colour,” academic director Charles Tilburg at the School of Marine and Environmental Programs, told WGME-TV.
