What are the odds?
Two “one in 30 million” orange lobsters were rescued from two supermarkets on Long Island on Monday, a week after another ultra-rare crustacean was rescued from a Stop & Shop in the Hamptons.
The two female lobsters, named “Tangerine” and “Navel,” were confined to a tank and treated like royalty compared to the rest of their group before being released back into Long Island Sound for a second chance at life, Humane Long Island said in a statement on Tuesday.
Following widespread media coverage last week about the first orange lobster being released into the wild, customers have been calling in to say that two more similarly colored crustaceans have been spotted on Long Island.
“It's gratifying that we were able to rescue so many animals in quick succession,” John Di Leonardo of Humane Long Island told The Post on Tuesday.
Before they were rescued, one lobster was at a Stop & Shop in East Setauket and the other was at Northport Fish & Lobster, according to Humane Long Island.
Di Leonardo said the lobster was fed differently while in the tank than the other non-orange lobsters, and Stop & Shop also cut off the rings on the lobster's claws.
Humane Long Island said the “one in 30 million orange color” of three lobsters being sold at a supermarket was the result of a genetic mutation.
“I checked with the stores and they all said they'd never carried the orange ones before, so it appears they remain a rarity,” Di Leonardo said.
Di Leonardo believes the three lobsters may be from the same family, as they were all shipped to different locations at roughly the same time in early July.
video Post an online show Di Leonardo, with the help of his nephew, went into the water and released them back into the ocean.
“These rescue efforts always make me feel good, but I know this is just a drop in the bucket,” he said.
“There are only three of these lobsters in a trillion, so we're really trying to get the message across that you should never eat lobsters, regardless of their color.”
