An “ultra rare” orange lobster has been returned to the sea after ending up in a supermarket’s seafood section.
The lobster, later named Clementine, arrived at a store in Long Island, New York, in early July, and immediately stood out among a group of traditional brown lobsters.
With just one in 30 million lobsters being naturally orange, the rare crustacean became something of an attraction in the seafood section, according to animal advocacy group Humane Long Island.
The store’s owner reached out to an aquarium to take Clementine in, but it declined the offer.
That is when Southampton Animal Shelter stepped in, calling in Humane Long Island to secure the lobster’s safe release.
Working with the store, the animal advocacy group got Clementine back into the sea on Tuesday.
John Di Leonardo, executive director of Humane Long Island, told Sky News’ US partner NBC News: “We got ourselves a big saltwater tank to rehab her in, we brought her down to the ocean, and she immediately began foraging.”
Clementine blends in with her saltwater tank. Pic: Humane Long Island
“She was ready to go as soon as she saw the ocean,” Mr Di Leonardo added.
The group said they put her in a cold saltwater tank shortly before dropping her in, at the advice of a veterinarian.
“Within hours, Clementine was swimming, foraging, and exploring the Long Island Sound, playfully following us around before disappearing into the ocean depths where she’ll travel as far as 100 miles or more each year,” the group said in a news release.
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Mr Di Leonardo said lobsters like Clementine deserve to live freely.
“They all want to live natural lives in the wild,” he said.
“They don’t want to boil in someone’s pot or stay in a cramped aquarium.”
Lobsters often appear a shade of bright red or orange when cooked, but while alive can come in a variety of colours, including, most commonly, a mottled brown or a deep blue.
Their colour changes because of a pigment called astaxanthin, which is stored in their skin underneath their hard shell.
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There are layers of lobster colours stored under the shell, according to the American Chemical Society, which includes red skin at the bottom, a layer of blue pigment in the shell’s bottom layer, and orange on the outside of the shell.
These break down when lobsters are cooked, leaving just the bright red skin visible.