Six-Clawed Lobster Donated to Maine Aquarium
A six-clawed lobster found off the coast of Maine has now found a home.
The lobster was found off the coast of Hyannis, Mass. A crew of the vessel Rachel Leah, which is featured on the Discovery Channel series "Lobster Wars," consisting of Captain Peter Brown and lobsterman Richard Figueiredo found the creature and donated it to the Maine State Aquarium in West Boothbay Harbor last Thursday, Aimee Hayden-Roderiques, aquarium manager, said.
The lobster, which Capt. Brown named Lola, weighs about four pounds. Lola looks like a normal lobster on her right side. On her left side, however, she has five small claw extensions, instead of one large one like most lobsters have. The miniature claws are shaped in a starfish pattern, similar to a hand.
"This claw deformity is a genetic mutation," Hayden-Roderiques said in an interview with CNN affiliate WMTV-TV. "Sometimes they have this throughout their life. Sometimes this happens during a regeneration from a damaged or lost claw."
According to a Boston affiliate of CBS, The Maine State Aquarium in West Boothbay Harbor has many strange and rare lobsters on display. Lola will join two other lobsters with similar deformities at the aquarium after becoming comfortable with the new environment. She is currently in her own tank and will be on in display in a few days.
"Sometimes the genes will just get a little mixed and it will grow a funny claw, but I've never seen anything like this," David Libby, marine scientist for the Maine State Aquarium's Department of Marine Resources, said in an interview with Bangor Daily News.
Hayden-Roderiques and Libby estimate that Lola is about 10-years old. They are not sure if her mutated claw will survive her next molt. The aquarium employees are also doubtful as to if Lola was disadvantaged in her natural habitat because of her claw.
The aquarium also features lobsters of strange colors including blue and orange lobsters as well as lobsters that are half one color, and half another color.
"We're kind of the place for unusual lobsters," Hayden-Roderiques said. "We think the colored ones are about one in a million, but there's no way to know."
Maine State Aquarium is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Wednesday through Sunday until Sept. 29.