He may look cooked, but the newest addition to Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation’s marine life touch tank, a rare orange lobster, is alive and well. And now you can see this little guy courtesy of the Blue Ocean Society.
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315 Market St
Portsmouth, NH
The brightly colored lobster, who is a little over a pound, was donated graciously by Hannaford Supermarket in Hampton. He arrived at the store’s seafood market earlier this month, the third orange crustacean to come to the market this season. Hannaford offered him up to nonprofit educational organizations in the area. Blue Ocean Society was lucky enough to be contacted, and now the lobster is residing in the 110-gallon tank on the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company dock.
The lobster’s coloration is believed to be caused by a genetic variation. According to the Portsmouth Herald, lobsters of his color are 1 in 30 million – although several have arrived in lobster shipments from Canada this season.
Visitors to the tank can touch or hold the lobster, or watch him eat during feeding time at 1 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He has already made the tank his home, pushing the sand around and finding rocks under which to hide. But no matter how hard he tries, his color always gives him away!
Blue Ocean Society thanks The Great Bay Discovery Center of Greenland for making the call and connecting Blue Ocean Society to Hannaford, making the lobster's new home possible.
The touch tank is home to some of the many organisms found in the intertidal communities of the Gulf of Maine. Some of the other featured animals currently residing in the tank include a giant moon snail, two huge Acadian hermit crabs, and several sea scallops. Visitors can also see, touch and hold sea stars, sand dollars, green crabs, rock crabs, periwinkles, whelks, mussels and more. Visitors have the chance to get up close and personal with these marine critters by watching their underwater lives through the tank’s viewing panels, as well as reaching into the tank to gently touch and hold its inhabitants.
The touch tank is located outdoors at 315 Market St., Portsmouth, right next to the salt piles on the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company dock. Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation is a Portsmouth-based nonprofit organization whose goal is to inspire people to make good choices on behalf of the marine environment by organizing local beach cleanups, studying whales, and offering hands-on educational programs. For more information about Blue Ocean Society or the touch tank, call (603) 431-0260
