HALIFAX – A rare two-coloured lobster named Oscar has become a major attraction at Dalhousie University’s Beaty Centre for Marine Biodiversity after being donated by a local fisherman. “It is very rare in the animal kingdom, and very rare in lobsters,” said John Batt, manager of the Halifax-based centre. The staff at the facility has already given the lobster a name. “They named him Oscar, because they think he deserves an Oscar for his award-winning looks,” said Nadia Stewart, the Beaty Centre’s visitor experience facilitator. “He is half-orange and half the normal lobster colour, which is dark greenish, and his legs also have a tinge of blue in them.” Since his arrival, Oscar has become a favourite for visitors, attracting people to the public aquarium and research facility. “Nature never lets us down,” said Frank Mignatta, who visited the aquarium with his family. “Wow, he is so beautiful.” Batt said Oscar’s presence is important for the aquarium. “We want people to keep coming back here, and we want to engage the public and have them come more than one time,” Batt said. Some scientific explanation is required to understand how Oscar became a two-coloured lobster. “This happened because two unlaid fertilized eggs accidentally came in contact with one another, and one engulfed the other,” Stewart said. “It created two genetic information sets in one lobster, so they were able to hold pigment on both sides of the body.” When this takes place, it can sometimes result in a lobster being half male and half female. Stewart confirmed in this case, Oscar is a full male. “He is so rare, it is one in 50 million, and he is the second-rarest lobster in the world,” Stewart said, who added there are other rare finds at the aquarium, including two blue lobsters and two orange lobsters. Oscar recently went through a molting process and shed his two-coloured shell, which is on display. He will recover while sequestered in a tank, until his new two-coloured shell is considered hard enough for him to live safely alongside other fish and crustaceans living at the aquarium. “It will take him around 14–30 days to harden his shell again,” Stewart said. The experts who work at the Beaty Centre said Oscar is likely between five and 10 years old, and could live for more than 100 years. That means the two-coloured lobster who has already made a big splash at Dalhousie University will likely be a public fixture for a long time.
