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Maine fisherman catches extremely rare two-colored lobster

Experts say the chances of finding such a lobster is 1 in 50 million.

By Fred Lambert
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SCARBOROUGH, Maine, July 7 (UPI) -- A fisherman in Maine last week caught a two-toned lobster in an extremely rare find that experts say has a 1 in 50 million chance of occurring.

Employees from the Pine Point Fisherman's Co-Op in Scarborough could not identify the fisherman who brought in the catch, but they speculated he was local.

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The lobster has a half-orange tail and one orange claw but an all-brown body, making it unique even from regular split-colored lobsters that are typically colored brown on one side and orange on the other.

"There's probably quite a few genetic mutations that created that type of pattern," Adam Baukus, scientist at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, told NECN.

The University of Maine's Lobster Institute estimates the chances of finding a split-colored lobster are 1 in 50 million, making it the second-rarest lobster behind the colorless albino lobster, which has a 1 in 100 million chance of being discovered.

Bob Bayer of the Lobster Institute said all of the split-colored lobsters he has seen have been hermaphrodites, possessing both male and female genitalia.

The specimen caught in Scarborough, however, was female only, NECN reports.

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The Pine Point Fisherman's Co-Op is reportedly deciding whether to send the lobster to an aquarium or a museum.

In August, a 14-year-old girl caught a blue lobster off the coast of Pine Point, Maine. An estimated 1 in 2 million lobsters is blue, according to the Lobster Institute.

In 2012, a calico lobster -- which has a 1 in 30 million chance of being found -- was discovered in Massachusetts.

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