Rare orange lobster caught off Welsh coast

Wales
North Wales
Animals
Thursday 27 April 2017 at 1:56pm

A rare orange lobster has been caught off Wales.

Lobsters usually only turn orange when they are cooked, but the only pot this common European lobster has seen is a lobster pot.

After being retrieved from the sea, the lobster was taken to Anglesey Sea Zoo.

The zoo says "the only colour thought to be rarer than the orange form is the albino lobster, and the odds of catching one of these is considered to be 1 in 100 million."

This is an incredibly exciting addition to our ongoing captive breeding and conservation programme in the Lobster Hatchery of Wales, and for research into the Common Lobster, particularly as this individual is a female carrying eggs, known as a “berried hen”. We are eagerly anticipating the release of her larvae to see if they are also as orange as the female, and to see as the juveniles develop and grow, if any of them are bright orange. It will be very interesting to see if the adult female remains the same orange colour when she next moults, as our experience shows that the vivid blue coloured lobsters can change their colour through moulting. The rare orange female is on display here at the Sea Zoo in the Lobster Hatchery of Wales, and we are delighted to be able to show our visitors this incredibly rare animal.

The orange lobster stands out from the crowd. Credit: Anglesey Sea Zoo

The lobster was caught by Tristan Wood. He said: “As soon as I saw this amazing female in the lobster catch, she stood out from all the other lobsters, and I knew she was unique and I had to save her from the pot.

"In all the years I have been working in sustainable lobster fisheries, this is the first time I have seen a bright orange individual like this one."