Rare two-coloured lobster caught by fishermen off Cape Cod donated to aquarium

A rare split-color lobster is seen at the Wellfleet Shellfish Company, in Eastham, Mass., April 17, 2026.

It might be a divided lobster, but it has united New Englanders in fascination.

A Cape Cod seafood company has donated a rare two-coloured lobster to a science centre, sparing the critter from the kettle because of its remarkable coloration. The lobster found is the typical brown colour on one side and bright orange on the other, and the two-toned pattern goes all the way from its head to its tail.

Representatives for Wellfleet Shellfish Company in Eastham, Massachusetts, said Monday they have been fielding inquiries about the crustacean for days. The company gifted the lobster to Woods Hole Science Aquarium in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and it will be put on public display when the aquarium reopens, the company said.

“The lobster is now with Woods Hole Science Aquarium’s animals currently being housed in holding tanks at the Marine Biological Laboratory during the aquarium’s construction period. When the aquarium reopens, the lobster will be on display, offering visitors a rare look at one of the ocean’s most striking natural anomalies,” the shellfish company said in a statement.

Fishermen caught the lobster off Cape Cod on April 16. Oddly coloured lobsters often make their way to New England’s docks over the course of the spring and summer, but the two-coloured specimen is rarer than most.

The American lobster is usually a mottled brown, but they can experience colour abnormalities due to gene mutations that affect the proteins that bind to their pigments. Some are blue or orange, some are spotted calico and others are so brightly colour they’re called “cotton candy” lobsters.

A two-coloured lobster can occur because two lobster eggs fused and grew as one animal, marine sciences professor Markus Frederich of the University of New England in Maine told The Associated Press in 2024. There are estimates about the rarity of different lobster colours, though Frederich has also cautioned that such figures are approximations.

On Cape Cod, Wellfleet Shellfish Company said it’s treating the two-coloured lobster as a “remarkable and exciting find.”

Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press