1 in 30 million orange lobster saved from diner's plate
July 17, 2022
Staffers at a Red Lobster seafood chain restaurant in Florida discovered an extremely rare orange lobster earlier this week.
The staffers knew immediately there was something different about the lobster they received in a shipment to the restaurant and they went on a mission to find a home for it, Red Lobster said in a press release on July 12.
The Ripley's Aquarium of Myrtle Beach, also Ripley's hub for scientific research, in South Carolina, responded to the rescue mission, giving the lobster its new home.
The chance of finding the rare orange lobster is one in 30 million, Ripley's said in a statement on their website.
Ripley's Aquarium and the Red Lobster restaurant named the orange lobster "Cheddar" in an ode to the restaurant's Cheddar Bay Biscuits.
Believe It or Not! Extremely rare lobster found
Ripley's said orange lobster sightings are very rare.
"Believe It or Not! Orange lobsters like Cheddar are extremely rare — a one-in-30-million chance — because their bright, unusual coloring makes them very attractive to predators," Ripley's said.
By comparison, the chance of finding a blue lobster, also very rare, is estimated at roughly one in 2 million, according to Oxford University's zoology department.
Staffers ecstatic at finding orange lobster a new home
"Sometimes ordinary miracles happen, and Cheddar is one of them," Mario Roque, a manager at the restaurant who led the rescue of Cheddar, said in a statement.
Nicole Bott, senior director of communications at Red Lobster, said their team was "incredibly proud of Mario" for recognizing the unique crustacean and finding it a home.
Ripley's said Cheddar would forever be "protected in the safety of her new habitat" at the aquarium.