1-in-50 million lobster found in Nova Scotia
One of the world’s rarest lobsters has been discovered in Nova Scotia.
Experts say the odds of coming across a "split lobster" are 1 in 50 million. The lobster is settling into its new home at the Northumberland Fisheries Museum in Pictou.
“Split lobsters are a conjoined twin," explains Victoria Bailey Thompson, a curator at the museum, adding that's why the lobster is "split" down the middle into two different colors.
Since the season began at the start of May, the museum has taken in four calicoes or spotted, lobsters, which are a 1 in 30 million find.
They've also seen two bright orange lobsters and four blues ones.
A BLUE LOBSTER?
While rare, lobsters can be blue. It has to do with the proteins in their shell.
All lobsters will turn red when cooked, but there are three different colors of protein.
“If they’re missing one of these little receptors, they’ll only show one or maybe two of the colors," Bailey Thompson explains.
"That’s when you get your red lobsters, your yellow lobsters, and your blue lobsters.”
In addition to being a museum, Northumberland Fisheries is also an aquaculture facility that's licensed to take in buried female lobsters which have egg on their tails.
The eggs are raised in a hatchery and released into the strait as baby lobsters.
The different colored lobsters will also be released at the end of the summer season.
