Rare orange lobster gives birth to more rare orange lobsters
Baby orange lobsters. (Credit: Markus Frederich)
A rare orange lobster isn't as rare as after giving birth to more orange lobsters.
The University of New England said the baby lobsters came from Peaches, a rare, 1-in-30-million orange lobster, who came to UNE last year.
The lobsters will be studied for their coloration.
UNE has housed many rare-colored lobsters including blue, orange, yellow, split-colored, purple, and calico varieties — each with rarity ranging from 1-in-1 million to 1-in-50 million.
"Those orange lobsters are pretty rare in itself and, supposedly, (the odds are) about one in 30 million of finding an orange lobster," Markus Frederich, a professor of marine sciences at the University of New England, told WMTW. "But rarely do we find any egg-bearing females."
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"It's so exciting. Every day I come in here, and I'm, like, on the verge of tears," Ruby Motulsky, a student, continued. "I'm discovering new information that no one else has ever seen or heard of."
But there's more. Another rare orange lobster at UNE, Pineapple, is currently bearing eggs that are expected to hatch next spring.
This story was reported from Los Angeles.