This orange lobster might not look that rare — but it's 1 in 30 million

Rachel Watts · CBC News

· Posted: May 19, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: May 19

Until past week, fishmonger Yvon Jalbert had ne'er seen an orangish lobster successful his 40-year career. 

"It's beauteous rare. We've had yellow, we've had blue, but ne'er orange," said Jalbert, manager of the food market at Les Pêcheries Gaspésiennes de Rivière-au-Renard successful Gaspé, Que.

To the untrained eye, the crustacean caught successful the trap whitethorn not look each that antithetic — resembling the colour of a freshly cooked lobster retired of the pot.

But it turns retired it is 1 successful 30 cardinal — adjacent much uncommon than blue lobsters — says Mathieu Lemonde-Landry, caretaker of the surviving postulation astatine the Exploramer depository successful Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, connected Quebec's Gaspé peninsula.

"They are rather lucky," helium said of the sportfishing company. 

Normal lobsters look much reddish-brown, but a bluish and yellowish colour is disposable person to their joints, says Lemonde-Landry. That's due to the fact that the American lobster taxon person a reddish and bluish pigment, helium says.

"The reddish pigment is surrounded by a cage of bluish pigment, truthful the cage mightiness person much oregon little layers. And the much layers determination is, the little we spot the reddish underneath," helium says. 

He says bluish lobsters thin to nutrient mode excessively overmuch bluish pigment, besides known arsenic crustacyanin.

"But successful [this] case ... the orange-yellow one, it's because it's conscionable capable to marque 1 benignant of cage with a definite fig of layers," said Lemonde-Landry, adding mean lobsters volition person a premix of these pigmented layers.

He says normally, a lobster's reddish-brown colour allows it to fell rather easy successful its habitat. Although they person fewer predators successful the ocean, Lemonde-Landry says the crustaceans are precise assertive animals.

"They are territorial, truthful they combat a lot," helium said. "They tin beryllium cannibal, too. So a lobster mightiness beryllium a predator of a smaller lobster."

He notes that whether orangish oregon reddish oregon blue, erstwhile cooked, they volition each go red.

Housing uniquely coloured lobsters in the Exploramer museum, Lemonde-Landry says he's approached the Gaspé fishery astir their latest find. 

"But often a food marketplace volition support them arsenic a publicity stunt for a fewer weeks," helium said. "Most of the time, they volition springiness them to [an] aquarium like america oregon conscionable propulsion them backmost successful the wild."

The food marketplace says it has the volition of keeping the orangish lobster live and presenting it to clients who popular by for the sportfishing season. Later on, it mightiness beryllium offered to the Montreal Biodôme, the Aquarium of Quebec oregon returned to the water.