PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A rare mottled orange and black calico lobster caught off Cape Elizabeth, Maine, is being spared.

Portland Lobster Co. is holding the crustacean until Larry and Crystal Dunne of Saco can find a new home for their catch. Crystal Dunne said they have caught blue and yellow specimens but not a calico one.

Company manager Ethan Morgan said the lobster is in a tank with notes to the kitchen staff not to cook him.

Diane Cowan, lobster scientist and founder of the Lobster Conservancy in Friendship, said only albino lobsters are rarer than calicos. She said a blue lobster is one in a million and a yellow or orange one is one in 30 million. She said she’s seen only two or three calicos in 25 years of research.

The shell usually is deep green and red.


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