Rare, dazzling lobsters go on display at Maritime Aquarium

One lobster is a dazzling blue, another is calico-hued and a third is the color of a Halloween pumpkin -- and with these extraordinarily rare crustaceans together in one tank, Connecticut's Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk can boast one of the world's most unique marine exhibits.

"If you search around you can find other aquariums that have a blue lobster, and one that might have a calico or an orange lobster, but I've never seen one advertising having all three," said Dave Sigworth, spokesman for the facility, which is fortunate in ways only an oddsmaker can appreciate.

The odds of seeing all three together in the wild are astronomical. According to the Maine-based Lobster Conservancy, about one in a million wild lobsters is born blue. Calico and orange lobsters are much more rare, with perhaps one in 30 million being born in either of the two colors.

A math professor contacted by the aquarium calculated the probability of seeing all three together in the wild at one in 900 quintillion -- or one in 900,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Sigworth acknowledged that the Maritime Aquarium is lucky to have obtained all three lobsters during the past couple of months. But the aquarium also credits strong relationships with commercial lobster fishermen and seafood market reps who would rather the peculiar specimens they come across be placed on display than sold for the cooker.

Sigworth said people who stroll past the exhibit cannot help but stop and marvel at the brilliantly-colored denizens.

While the sky-blue lobster is the most striking and the mottled calico lobster is truly exotic-looking, the orange lobster generates at least as many comments because it looks like it's ready for the dinner plate.

  "All lobsters, no matter what color they are, end up orange after you cook them," Sigworth said. "So one of the comments we hear is, 'Why is there a cooked lobster in the tank?' "

-- Pete Thomas

-- Images courtesy of the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk

-- Editor's note: This post also appears on GrindTv.com outdoors blog

Comments

[J Mirick]

Just to clarify a few points: The New England Aquarium in Boston has a much fuller spectrum of colorful lobsters than they are boasting here. Along with the blues, calicos, and orange, they have have a white, yellow, and half and half.
ALL lobsters DO NOT turn red when cooked. Albino's stay white!!