Extremely rare, pumpkin-colored critter saved from dinner plate by Arizona restaurant

Helena Wegner
·1 min read

A bright orange lobster looked too good to eat at an Arizona restaurant.

Instead of serving it for dinner, a Japanese restaurant in Scottsdale had other plans for the “extremely rare” crustacean.

Nobu Scottsdale donated the creature to OdySea Aquarium in May.

The rare lobster will have a better chance of surviving at the aquarium because it’s vivid shell makes it an easy target for predators, aquarium officials said.

A rare orange lobster was discovered at a Japanese restaurant in Phoenix over the summer. Nobu Scottsdale turned over the crustacean to OdySea Aquarium. The creature doesn’t have a public exhibit yet.
A rare orange lobster was discovered at a Japanese restaurant in Phoenix over the summer. Nobu Scottsdale turned over the crustacean to OdySea Aquarium. The creature doesn’t have a public exhibit yet.

“The chance of finding a lobster this color in the wild is one in 30 million, so we are really fortunate to have it in our collection,” said Dave Peranteau, animal care director at OdySea Aquarium. “We are grateful to Nobu for recognizing the lobster’s significance and reaching out to us regarding this incredible ambassador for its species.”

The orange coloring appears in Maine lobsters with a genetic mutation, aquarium officials said.

And it will be the only Maine lobster at the aquatic zoo, officials said. OdySea has seven California spiny lobsters on exhibit and two slipper lobsters in their Stingray Shores exhibit.

But the crustacean won’t be on display quite yet.

“We are currently in development of a safe, if not exclusive, habitat for our new orange buddy where it would not pinch or injure any other animal,” spokesperson of OdySea Aquarium Karin Korpowski-Gallo told McClatchy News.

A name hasn’t been given to the fall-colored lobster yet.

And chances are it’ll stick around for a while. Lobsters can live up to 100 years old, grow 3-feet-long and weigh up to 40 pounds.

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