Wrong color? Florida Red Lobster donates orange lobster to Myrtle Beach Ripley’s Aquarium

Chase Karacostas

Red Lobster, the restaurant, is used to serving up lobsters that are, well, red.

But one of the lobsters that showed up recently at a Red Lobster in Hollywood, Florida, stood out because she wasn’t, well, red.

She was orange.

The strange crustacean turned out to be an incredibly rare variety of lobster. Just one in every 30 million of the creatures are orange, as the bright coloring makes it hard for them to survive in the wild. Predators can easily spot them.

Red Lobster manager Mario Roque found this extremely rare orange lobster in a seafood shipment to his restaurant. The crustacean, now named Cheddar, was rescued and given to Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach.
Red Lobster manager Mario Roque found this extremely rare orange lobster in a seafood shipment to his restaurant. The crustacean, now named Cheddar, was rescued and given to Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach.

The orange lobster, now named Cheddar after the restaurant’s Cheddar Bay Biscuits, was rescued and donated to Myrtle Beach’s Ripley’s Aquarium. She arrived this week.

“Sometimes ordinary miracles happen, and Cheddar is one of them,” Red Lobster manager Mario Roque, who helped get Cheddar out of the restaurant and to her new life, said in a statement. “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.”

Cheddar definitely fits the bill for Ripley’s, a company known for its “odditoriums.”

Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach just celebrated its 25th anniversary, a major milestone for the aquarium that has spent years working to raise its stature in the world of animal care and conservation. In just the last few years, the aquarium has successfully bred and welcomed two African penguins chicks and recently saw one of its sand tiger sharks give birth, an extreme rarity for that species to do in captivity.

Now at Ripley’s, Cheddar will live out the rest of her days with great food and veterinary care to ensure she lives a happy life.

“We are incredibly proud of Mario and the team for recognizing what a special and rare creature Cheddar is and for working relentlessly to find someone to rescue her,” Red Lobster spokeswoman Nicole Bott said in a statement. “It is an honor to be able to share the story of Cheddar and provide her a new home where she can be enjoyed by many for years to come, all from the safety of her tank.”

A Red Lobster restaurant in Hollywood, Florida, found this rare orange lobster in its seafood shipment, rescued her, named her Cheddar after the restaurant’s Cheddar Bay Biscuits and gave her to the Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach to live out the rest of her days far from the dinner table.
A Red Lobster restaurant in Hollywood, Florida, found this rare orange lobster in its seafood shipment, rescued her, named her Cheddar after the restaurant’s Cheddar Bay Biscuits and gave her to the Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach to live out the rest of her days far from the dinner table.

Visitors who want to see Cheddar can find her starting July 20 during the daily guided tours of the Ripley’s Marine Science Research Center. The tours are available once each day for an added fee to the traditional aquarium ticket.

“Ripley’s Aquarium of Myrtle Beach is honored to become Cheddar’s forever home,” Ripley’s Aquarium marketing coordinator Alex McMinn said in a statement. “Though the odd and unusual are a part of every day life here at Ripley’s, orange lobsters like Cheddar are truly one in 30 million. We are grateful that Red Lobster’s Team recognized the significance of such a rarity and hope to spread crustacean conservation with guests from around the world for years to come.”

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