WATCH: Orange lobster, named Tangerine, has new home at aquarium - The Daily News Online

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WATCH: Orange lobster, named Tangerine, has new home at aquarium - The Daily News Online Posted: 20 May 2021 12:00 AM PDT BATAVIA — A rare, orange lobster named Tangerine has been spared a spot in the seafood section at Tops Friendly Markets. Instead, Tangerine moved Wednesday to Niagara Falls as a resident of Aquarium of Niagara. The lobster, rare enough to be deemed a "1-in-30 million lobster" by the store's seafood office, was picked up by representatives of Aquarium of Niagara after being at Tops since May 8. "The whole time he's been here, none of the other lobsters wanted anything to do with him," Store Manager Kris Ponzi said as Tangerine stayed in the corner of the tank. "Every time I observed him in the tank, it was like this, where he's in his own little world." Rare Orange Lobster at Tops in Batavia on May 19, 2021. On May 8, Ponzi said, Tops received its normal shipment of lobsters and Tangerine was in it. The lobster was immediately named Tangerine because of its color, she said. "Inside the box, kind of buried at the bottom of the box, when we pulled him out, was this orange lobster," she said. "One of our clerks, Tyler, notified the manager on duty that we had something that looked a little different. I snapped a picture and sent it to our seafood office. I knew there were some rarities on lobsters. As special as it was, I had no idea I would get the response back that the orange lobster is 1 in 30 million." Tops had another orange lobster in September at its store in Lockport, Ponzi said. The store manager said of Tangerine, "We're just excited that we get to save him from consumption and he'll be used as an educational resource at the aquarium in Niagara Falls." Christine Streich, director of communications for the Aquarium of Niagara, said the aquarium is very excited to take Tangerine. "Lobsters are great animal ambassadors for their species," she said. "This animal will actually go to schools and go out on our public floor in our gallery and actually be able to interact with our guests and teach people about aquatic life. We've somehow gotten lucky and gotten two of them (lobsters) in a year." The aquarium likes to provide a home for an animal if it has the space, Streich said. "They can live a really long time. They can live up to 20 years and that's in their natural environment," she said. "Under human care, when they don't have predators and they're getting food every day, they can actually live a lot longer than that." Tangerine and other lobsters are transported, very safely, in saltwater. "There are limits on how long the animal can be out of the water and out of the facility," Streich said. "We just make sure they'[re well taken care of and they do not suffer any harmful effects." Once Tangerine got to the aquarium, there would be a 30-day quarantine would begin. After that, if there is nothing wrong with it, the lobster would be free to be an ambassador along with the two other lobsters Tops has previously donated, Larry and Blue. Senior Aquarist Alyssa Shepherd said Tangerine is most likely a female, but they won't know for sure unless it has eggs. For the trip to Niagara Falls, the aquarium staff put Tangerine in a cooler containing saltwater and ice packs to maintain a lower temperature, Shepherd said. "We've got the air conditioning on in the van the whole time," she said. Tangerine could be out of quarantine by the summer, Shepherd said. "We have a lot of outreach programs where educators can bring out a lot of different animals for guests to interact with," she said.

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