Rare lobster’s unique shell saves it from becoming a meal at a Virginia Red Lobster
A rare lobster was destined for the dinner plate.
But thanks to workers at a Red Lobster in Virginia, it will now live out the rest of its days in a museum.
When the calico lobster, named Freckles, was included in the Manassas restaurant’s shipment of live lobsters from Maine last month, workers immediately noticed it was “special,” a Red Lobster spokesperson told McClatchy News in a statement on Monday.
The workers then reached out to the company, which made arrangements for Freckles to be rescued.
Calico lobsters, which often feature orange and blue spots, are the “third most rare” in the world, according to Red Lobster. The chances of catching one are between 1 in 30 million and 1 in 50 million, National Geographic reports.
Lobsters are naturally brownish green, National Geographic reports, but they can also be blue, split-colored or albino.
Calico lobsters’ unique hue makes them “very visible and thus vulnerable to predators,” Red Lobster says.
“Because a Calico lobster is so rare and vulnerable in the wild, it was important that we found it a good home versus setting it free in the wild,” the company said.
So Red Lobster coordinated with the Akron Zoo in Ohio to find Freckles a new home at the Virginia Living Museum.
The museum’s animal rescue team picked up Freckles from the restaurant and took it for an evaluation and 30-day quarantine. If Freckles remains healthy, it will be added to the lobster display in a month.
“We hope Freckles brings lots of joy to guests of the museum and lives a long and wonderful life,” a Red Lobster spokesperson said in the statement.
This isn’t the first time a rare crustacean has ended up at a Red Lobster.
Staff at a restaurant in Ohio discovered a blue lobster in July, McClatchy News reported. The lobster, Clawdia, was rescued by the Akron Zoo, where she now lives in a special tank.
This story was originally published May 3, 2021 at 10:59 AM with the headline "Rare lobster’s unique shell saves it from becoming a meal at a Virginia Red Lobster."
