Rare orange lobster rescued by Red Lobster employees

Employees at seafood joints are used to seeing crustaceans, but one crew noticed a lobster that gave them pause – it was bright orange. After finding the rare lobster in a shipment, employees at the Red Lobster restaurant in Hollywood, Florida, started a mission to rescue it.

Turns out, orange lobsters are rare – 1 in 30 million, Ripley's Aquarium of Myrtle Beach told CBS News. Staff members named the orange lobster Cheddar and reached out to the aquarium to see if they could help give the rare animal a home. 

The aquarium sent two team members to the Red Lobster to pick up Cheddar and drove her back to their research center. Cheddar is currently at the research and quarantine facility where she is acclimating and will stay for a while, Ripley's told CBS News. 

Lobsters are typically a dull color when alive and only get their signature red hue after being cooked. Ripley's said "Cheddar's vibrant shell is caused by a genetic mutation that causes it to produce more of a particular protein than other lobsters." Lobsters can also develop other colors, like blue. However blue lobsters are 1 in 2 million, and orange lobsters are much rarer. 

Red Lobster manager Mario Roque, who was part of the team that helped save Cheddar, called her a "miracle."

"A group of incredible people helped us make this possible. We are so honored to have been able to save Cheddar and find her a good home," Roque said. 

In 2018, an orange lobster was discovered at Roche Bros. supermarket in Westboro, Massachusetts, CBS Boston reports. The male lobster was spotted in a shipment from Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.

CBS News has reached out to the Lobster Institute of Maine for more information on the rare creature.