Lucky Fisherman Catches Rare 1-in-30 Million Spotted Lobster

This TikTok vid shares the moment fisherman Jacob will not forget in a hurry. He holds up an extremely rare lobster for us to see and recounts his efforts to get it safely to an aquarium. This is not your average lobster!

Rare Lobster Caught off the Coast of Maine

These lobsters are extremely rare – it’s a one-in-30 million chance of finding one, in fact. Usually, these fishermen would release a rare lobster but as this one was a male and a legal size to keep, they decided to keep hold of him and find a home that would appreciate him.

The fisherman had an initial positive response from an aquarium run by NOAA  – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which is an American scientific and regulatory agency. However, this did not work out. The good news is that we learn from the video comments that an alternative aquarium was later found.

Calico Lobsters Are Extremely Rare

Lobsters are a crustacean and are found in seas and oceans all over the world. They are unique animals and keep growing their entire life – this allows them to reach sizes larger than other crustaceans. Their body is protected by an exoskeleton (similar to insects) but their brain is in their throat and their teeth are in their stomach! Also, they “taste” using receptors on their feet and “hear” using a series sensory hairs located on their legs.

Most of the American or Maine lobsters are a greenish color and other color variations are rare. Around one-in-two millionlobsters are blue and one-in-30 million is yellow. This orange and black freckled pattern is called calico and also only occurs in one in every 30 million lobsters. The chance of spotting a white lobster is one-in-100 million.

The regular green coloration helps lobsters to remain hidden from predators so these unusual colorations are bad news for the lobster. They are preyed on by seals  eels, and crabs. Eels are very good at squeezing into rock crevices where lobsters like to hide. Seals are super fast and take lobsters by surprise. There are also some fish, including cod, that will eat lobsters. However, we humans also catch a large number of lobsters to serve in restaurants and homes. Thanks to his unusual coloration, at least this lobster escaped that fate.

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The photo featured at the top of this post is © spwidoff/Shutterstock.com

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