More Orange Lobsters in New England

I recently blogged about a yellow lobster discovered in Massachusetts in a Canadian lobster shipment. A yellow lobster is a color variation said to be a rarity that's found only once in 30 million lobsters. Now two orange lobsters have shown up in New England, again from Canada, and these arrived within 2 days of each other to a lobster pound in York, Maine.

Maybe these lobsters aren't so rare after all! Unusual coloration in lobsters is usually the result of a genetic defect. Tony LaCasse, communications director for the New England Aquarium, said in the Portsmouth Herald that he's heard of a "spate of lobsters that have shown up both on Cape Cod, on the South Shore and in Maine," and that "there might be a concentration of genetic variability in some area that is then getting distributed in New England."

Learn More:

• Facts About Lobsters
• American Lobster (Homarus americanus) Profile
• Not One, But Two Rare Orange Lobsters Surface (Portsmouth Herald)