14 DAY TRIAL // An odd-looking lobster that is part brown and part orange was pulled from the waters off the coast of Maine, US, towards the end of last week.
The two-colored crustacean, said to be as rare as 1 in 50 million, was found by workers at the Pine Point Fisherman's Co-Op while sorting through a larger catch.
The creature, shown in the photos accompanying this article, is not simply orange on one side and brown on the other, as such so-called split-colored lobsters usually are.
Instead, it has a perfectly brown body, an orange claw and a tail that are both colors. Wildlife experts say this makes it even more special, as it indicates specific mutations.
“There's probably quite a few genetic mutations that created that type of pattern,” scientist Adam Baukus with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute told NECN in an interview.
Despite the fact that split-colored lobsters are usually hermaphrodites, meaning that they have both male and female reproductive organs, this specimen is a female.
Being as rare as it is, the two-colored crustacean will probably end up on display at a museum or an aquarium rather than on somebody's plate, cooked and accompanied by a slice of lemon.
