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August 19, 2010
Out of the pot; into the Aquarium
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A rare yellow lobster now resides at the Aquarium of Niagara after being discovered last month in a shipment of crustaceans headed for area dinner tables.
He’s lucky and so is the Aquarium, said Nancy A. Chapin, executive director. “This coloration is very rare,” she added.
The special lobster is yellowish orange, a genetic mutation that happens in one out of every 30 million lobsters. He was donated to the local Aquarium by Palmer Food Services of Rochester, a
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business that’s been in the family for five generations, said Amy Peri of the distributor’s marketing department.
Caught off the coast of Nova Scotia, this colorful fella was found in a shipment that arrived for the July 4th weekend. All were destined for the dinner table, but when the off-color lobster was found, an intrigued staff member immediately went on line and discovered how rare a crustacean he was. So, “Paris” (named after the blonde Paris Hilton by a young staffer before he knew it was a male) was made comfortable in a salt water tank and fed daily until Tom Chamot, also in the marketing department and a naturally curious guy, could find a permanent home for him.
First, they called the National Aquarium in Baltimore, but their call wasn’t returned. The next call went to the Rochester Zoo, but it didn’t have a saltwater tank. Then, someone suggested there was an aquarium in Niagara Falls. When contacted by Mr. Chamot, Chapin didn’t hesitate. She sent an aquarium staffer to Rochester to pick up the newest and rarest resident.
Chamot says in the seven years he’s worked for Palmer, this is the first lobster with this coloration he’s seen. He’s glad this rare critter has found a saltwater tank, and not a boiling pot, to call home. The lobster is now getting comfortable in the Rocky Atlantic Coast exhibit on the main floor.
(Four weeks after our lobster landed here, a Rhode Island restaurant owner went on CNN to show off a similar one on display in his restaurant.)
For more information, call 285-3575, Ext. 205
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