Autumn the yellow lobster is in the pink
Oddly hued creature gets new home in N.B. aquarium
An unusual yellow-coloured lobster has avoided the cooking pot, and will soon have a new home — the Marine Centre Aquarium in Shippagan.
Danny Knockwood found the lobster in one of his traps on Sunday as he fished in the Northumberland Strait near Richibucto Village.
He said he couldn’t bear to eat the unusual-looking crustacean — named Autumn — and he didn’t want to put it back into the water where it could die prematurely.
"There were a lot of people asking me what I was going to do with it, and a few people said they would be praying for it. So, I thought it was a good idea to start calling around for a home for it," said Knockwood, a member of the Elsipogtog First Nation.
Autumn, a female judged to be nine or 10 years old, will join a number of other oddly hued lobsters ranging from blue, to black and red in an aquarium filled with sea water.
"I asked them how long it would live up there in the aquarium, and they said it’ll live forever," Knockwood said.
Experts with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said a genetic defect caused the losbster’s shell to be yellow instead of green. The chances of a lobster developing a yellow shell are about one in 10 million, they said.
The Shippagan aquarium and museum focuses on New Brunswick's fishing industry with exhibits of gear, equipment and boats.