14 DAY TRIAL // A Maine lobsterman caught a rare two-toned lobster last week in the waters near Monhegan Island, Huffington Post informs.
Ben Murdock, the 30-year-old captain of the fishing vessel Arielle Hope, was stunned to see that his catch had a bi-colored shell, with different tones on each side of its body. Although the crustacean wasn't split symmetrically, photos of it show that it is half-orange, half-brown.
According to the Lobster Institute, bi-colored lobsters are very rare, with an estimated chance of catching a two-toned specimen of one in 50 million. As it turns out, the unusual pigmentation is due to the fact that the two sides of the crustacean develop independently of each other, and an error can occur on one side and not on the other.
After examining the rare female lobster and taking some pictures of it, the lobsterman threw it back into the water because it was too short to keep.
Kyle Murdock, Ben's brother told the aforementioned publication that “No matter how rare, a good lobsterman throws back an illegal lobster.”
Last autumn, another type of two-toned lobster was caught by a lobsterman from Owl's Head, Maine, and was donated to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.