Calico lobster: How did it get its spots?
Calico lobster was found in New Hampshire's Hampton Harbor earlier this month. The calico lobster was donated to the Explore the Ocean World Oceanarium in Hampton, N.H.
A calico lobster is shown at the Explore the Ocean World Oceanarium in Hampton, N.H. Ellen Goethel, a marine biologist and owner of the oceanarium said calico lobsters are the 'second most rare lobster' in the world, after albino lobsters.
Deb Cram/Portsmouth Herald/AP
HAMPTON, N.H.
A fisherman has caught a rare lobster that's bright orange with dark blue spots.
Josiah Beringer found the calico lobster in a trap on July 23 in the mouth of New Hampshire's Hampton Harbor. He donated the 1.5-pound, 5-year-old male lobster to the Explore the Ocean World Oceanarium in Hampton.
Beringer tells the Portsmouth Herald (http://bit.ly/1zuh9T6 ) the lobster was found in an area known as Washerwoman Rock, an area between two rocks that gets its name from its "really rough" and "washing machine"-like waters.
The aquarium's Ellen Goethel says calico lobsters are the second rarest in the world, after albino lobsters. She says the spots are the result of a genetic pigmentation mutation occurring in 1 in every 30 million to 50 million lobsters.
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Information from: Portsmouth Herald, http://www.seacoastonline.com