'1 In 30 Million' Orange Lobster Discovered At Supermarket

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WESTBORO (CBS) – Workers at a Roche Bros. supermarket got quite the surprise last week – an extremely rare orange lobster.

The pumpkin-like male lobster was easy to spot in a shipment of lobsters from Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia to the Westboro store.

The rare orange lobster. (Photo credit: New England Aquarium)

According to the New England Aquarium, the 1 2/3 pound orange lobster is "considerably more rare than a blue lobster." The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine said the likelihood of a lobster being orange is 1 in 30 million.

The lobster is believed to be about 7 to 9 years old, and aquarium experts say he's lucky to be alive given that his color was "flashing a neon sign to many large fish predators." Some lobsters have odd colors if they lack the right protein to produce the normal pigment.

This rare lobster won't end up at anyone's clambake. After a month-long quarantine, he'll be on display either at the New England Aquarium or in Japan.