Rare Split Lobster Caught On Cape Cod

Close up of this rare find. Photo courtesy Wellfleet Shellfish Company.

The lobster is heading to the Woods Hold Science Aquarium. Photo courtesy Wellfleet Shellfish Company.

Every once in a while, New England waters reveal something that makes even a seasoned angler or lobsterman do a double take.

That happened last week off Cape Cod, when lobstermen pulled up a rare split-color lobster—dark on one half, bright orange on the other.

Crews aboard the fishing vessel Timothy Michael hauled up the lobster on Thursday, April 16. To say the lobster is extraordinarily rare is an understatement. We’re talking lottery-level odds here—roughly one in 50 million.

Instead of heading to market, the lobster got a one-way ticket to science. The Wellfleet Shellfish Company donated the rare catch to the Woods Hole Science Aquarium. While the aquarium undergoes renovations, the lobster is being housed behind the scenes at the Marine Biological Laboratory.

Once the aquarium reopens, visitors will be able to see this oddball up close—a rare chance to witness one of nature’s quirkiest genetic curveballs. Scientists say split coloration can arise from genetic mosaicism, pigment irregularities during development, or, in rare cases, gynandromorphism (half male, half female).