Tangerine arrived at Tops Supermarket at 390 West Main street in Batavia on May 8th.
Tyler Kirst was working that day and found the rare orange lobster as he was unpacking a shipment of live lobsters from the Boston Express Wholesale company. Tangerine was at the bottom of the pile.
After living at Tops for almost two weeks, Tops reached out to the Aquarium at Niagara Falls to come out and retrieve the lobster.
On Wednesday morning, Christine Streich, Director of Communications at the Aquarium along with Senior Aquarist Alyssa Shepard, made the drive to Batavia to pick up the rare orange lobster and transport it to its new home at the Aquarium where it will serve as an ambassador along with two other rare lobsters, Larry and Blue. Larry, another orange lobster, was discovered in the fall of 2020 after being located in a shipment at the Tops Supermarket store in Lockport.
According to the folks at the Tops Seafood Department, orange lobsters are more rare than blue lobsters. They are one in thirty million. A blue lobster find is one in one million.
Tangerine weighs 1.87lbs and seems pretty healthy according to Senior Aquarist Alyssa Shepard. Tangerine will have to quarantine for 30 days before entering the 750 gallon exhibit at the aquarium. Once cleared, she will spend time traveling to schools in the fall and different locations in the summer.
Link to the Aquarium below:
Aquarium of Niagara | Aquarium & Rescue Facility in Niagara Falls, NY
