Weird Two Toned Lobster: 2007 (Rhode Island)

Updated:2007-06-02 19:54:44
Two-Toned Lobster Caught Off Rhode Island
ABC News
(June 2) - Fishermen are scratching their heads at a rare catch off Rhode Island.

A half-brown, half-orange lobster is the talk of the town in Little Compton, R.I. The unique-looking crustacean was caught off the coast of Newport. Lobster aficionados say the chances of catching a two-toned lobster is one in 50 million. By comparison, the odds of finding a blue lobster are about 1 in a million.

In fact, the lobsterman who caught it thought someone was fooling with him. When a similar two-toned lobster was caught off the coast of Maine last year, Bette Spurling of the Mount Desert Oceanarium’s told the Associated Press that lobster shells are usually a blend of the three primary colors: red, yellow and blue. Those colors mix to form the greenish-brown color of most lobsters. The two-toned lobster caught off Rhode Island apparently had no blue in half its shell. Bernard Arseneau, a former manager at the oceanarium's lobster hatchery, said lobsters also have a growth pattern in which the two sides develop independently of each other. ABC News reported that the two-toned lobster was heading to an aquarium for all to see.