Some of the lobsters

Three lobsters have been hauled in from the depths of the sea, and are causing quite a stir. One of the specimens is bright blue, another is calico-hued, and the last is a brilliant orange, much like you would expect a Jack-O-Lantern to be.

These lobsters are incredibly rare, and even more rare to be seen together, they are quickly becoming the pride and joy at the Maritime Aquarium in Connecticut, as these lobsters form one of the most unique marine exhibits in the world.

“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,” commented a spokesman for Maritime Aquarium, Dave Sigworth, which is putting it rather mildly.

You see, the odds of actually seeing these three lobsters in the same place are astronomical, if we listen to the Maine-based Lobster Conservancy.

Yellow lobster

Only about one lobster out of a million is born blue, and calico and orange lobsters are much more rare, being that only roughly one in 30 million lobsters are born in those colors.

The aquarium contacted a mathematician and were told, in the expert opinion of someone who knows their numbers, that the odds of encountering all three of these lobsters together in nature was about one in 900 quintillion, that’s 900 followed by 18 zeros!

Hopefully the lobsters like all the attention they get, and truly appreciate how special they really are!

Nova Scotia is not the only place with odd looking lobsters; the original Scotland also has some strange colour morphs dwelling in its waters.

If you visit the rock pool at Deep Sea World in North Queensferry, you can for instance encounter one electric blue lobster with white markings and one pitch-black lobster adorned with vivid orange colours that contrast beautifully against the dark areas. Picture here

The blue lobster was caught a quarter of a mile off the coast of Fife on the Scottish east-coast last year by Buckhaven fisherman Keith McKay, 47.

McKay said he had occasionally seen dark blue lobsters since he started laying creels with his father as an 11-year-old boy.

But he added: “I’ve never seen anything like this one in my life. I was surprised at how pale a blue it was. It was really brightly-coloured. I would call it electric blue. I was so surprised I pulled up alongside another fishing boat to show them what I had caught.”

Strangely coloured lobsters are the result of them being genetically different from other lobsters. In the wild, not having the normal olive-grey, mottled camouflage pattern is a disadvantage since predators can spot gaudy lobsters easily against the ocean floor, but for the lobsters living at Deep Sea World, the “genetic defect” actually turned out to be an asset since their flamboyant colours is what saved them from ending up on a dinner plate.