1-In-30-Million Lobster Heading From Market To CT Nature Center

VERNON, CT — A rare orange lobster — 1 in 30 million — is making its way from a Vernon seafood market to a state educational nature center on the Connecticut coastline.

The one-and-two-thirds-pound lobster, that could be about 15 years old, has been hanging out for a few days at Charlie's Fresh Catch, a seafood shop on Hartford Turnpike in Vernon. It was discovered in a recent shipment from Maine.

"This is a huge deal," shop owner Charlie Ballard said.

Ballard, who has three decades in the seafood business, said most experts say an orange lobsters are a 1-in-30-million occurrence, though some venture that it's 1-in-10-million.

Anyway ...

"It's rare," he said while adding that finding a blue lobster is a 1-in-1-million shot and seeing an albino lobster is a 1-in-1oo-million chance. "It came in as part of a regular shipment. The staff was sorting and there it was."

The lobster was named "Pumpkin Spice."

Bill Crawford also has 30-plus years in the business. He was at Charlie's sorting the shipment and almost could not believe what he saw.

"I've been doing this 32 years and have never seen one," he said. "At first I thought we had a dead one and then I saw him move. I've seen about a half-dozen blue lobsters and one albino. This is a new one."

Pumpkin Spice has been hanging around the large tank at Charlie's and the staff will gladly show him off. But, as Ballard said, "A lobster doesn't make a really good pet," and the staff said collectively that he should not "be swimming in butter."

So on Sunday, it will be off to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison and the Meigs Point Nature Center, where he will join other sea creatures as a shellfish professor. Meigs point is a popular place for school field trips and weekend visitors of all ages.

The Meigs Point Nature Center at Hammonassett Beach State Park is operated under the direction and cooperation of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Friends of Hammonasset. The center is open year-round for class visits.

See the full center schedule here.

Ballard took Pumpkin Spice out for a few minutes Friday and he immediately started meandering around the counter. He almost seemed to look up in an appreciative glance toward customers.

Crawford laughed and said it's better for such a rare creature to draw a crowd in an education center than draw butter at a table.