Overview
- The lobster, caught Thursday aboard the Timothy Michael, was donated by Wellfleet Shellfish Company for future display at the Woods Hole Science Aquarium.
- It is being cared for in Marine Biological Laboratory holding tanks during construction, with exhibition planned when the aquarium reopens in early 2027.
- Officials say split-colored lobsters occur in about 1 in 50 million cases, making this find exceptionally rare.
- Experts attribute the two-tone look to genetic mosaicism or pigment-development errors, and in rare cases to gynandromorphism, which produces male traits on one side and female traits on the other.
- Aquarium staff say the animal tops three pounds, and a biologist explained that the split pattern can result when two fertilized eggs merge, creating a chimera that stores pigments differently on each side.