1 in 50 million: Rare split-coloured lobster caught in US, donated to aquarium

Fishermen in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, U.S., caught a rare split-coloured lobster that will be donated to an aquarium.

In a Facebook post by the Wellfleet Shellfish Company, a Cape Cod seafood company, it was described as “a once-in-50-million catch”.

The catch

The split coloured female lobster was caught on Apr. 16 by fishermen on board the fishing vessel, Timothy Micheal, in Cape Cod.

The lobster’s left side is bright orange, while its right side is brown.

Its split-coloured pattern down the middle lengthwise goes all the way from its head to its tail.

Aquarium donation

The seafood company announced that it will donate the lobster to the Woods Hole Science Aquarium in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

The lobster is currently being cared for by the Marine Biological Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, as the aquarium is undergoing renovations.

It will be on display once the aquarium is reopened.

Split coloured phenomenon

According to NOAA, split-colourisation in lobsters occurs when two fertilised, unlaid eggs come into contact.

It causes one to absorb the other.

This creates a lobster with two sets of genetic information and the ability to store colour pigments differently on each side of its shell.

The estimates of a split-coloured lobster are one in 50 million.