Meet Crush, a rare orange lobster who now calls Denver home

A rare orange lobster, who goes by the name Crush, as in Orange Crush, is making his home at the Denver Aquarium. This after he almost ended up on someone's dinner plate!

Crush has had an interesting journey. He was delivered to a Red Lobster restaurant in Pueblo in a shipment of live lobsters. Kendra Kastendieck, the general manager of the restaurant, said one of her employees discovered the lobster.

"He knew something was very special about it right off the bat," said Kastendieck.  

The team decided to name him Crush in honor of their favorite football team, the Denver Broncos, known for their Orange Crush Defense, the 3-4 defense during the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

Kastendieck said typically the lobsters they sell are very dark brown with mottled spots, so opening a box with a bright orange lobster was a shock. 

"Myself and many of my team are born and raised Denver Broncos fans so when we were thinking of a name Orange Crush came right to mind," said Kastendieck.

The crew at the restaurant did some research and found that only one out of every 30 million lobsters is orange. That's even rarer than blue lobsters which are about one in two million. 

Red Lobster reached out to the Denver Aquarium who were thrilled to give Crush a new home. He will be on display at the aquarium after he is fully acclimated and completes a 30-day quarantine.