Denver aquarium welcomes rare 1-in-30 million crustacean found at Red Lobster

An extremely rare orange lobster nearly landed on a dinner plate in Pueblo last week, but instead, it'll soon be on display at the Downtown Aquarium in Denver.

A long-term Red Lobster employee who is a dishwasher and head biscuit maker spotted the bright orange lobster while unpacking a shipment last Friday at the Pueblo restaurant and alerted restaurant managers, aquarium officials said.

"Orange lobsters are one in 30 million, making them extremely uncommon," the Downtown Aquarium in Denver said in a Facebook post Friday.

The staff at the Red Lobster in Pueblo named it Crush after the Denver Broncos' legendary Orange Crush defense from 1976 to 1986.

“Myself and many of my team are born and raised Denver Broncos fans, so as soon as we saw that orange color, we knew that Crush would be an excellent representation,” said Kendra Kastendieck, the restaurant's general manager. “And we all want our defensive line to be that good again."

When the Pueblo Zoo couldn't take Crush, Kastendieck called the Downtown Aquarium, which she said was interested right away.

Kastendieck packed Crush with ice packs in a plastic foam container and delivered it to the aquarium on Wednesday.

“As soon as they acclimated him to his quarantine tank at the Denver aquarium, he was very active right off the bat and was really exploring his little area,” Kastendieck said Thursday.

Staff had set up a tank with a new generation Denver Broncos helmet on top and an older generation one sitting in the tank “so he can actually climb into it and play around it,” she said.

Crush will be examined by a veterinarian and after 30 days in quarantine will be placed in the “Lurks” exhibit that houses other cold water North Atlantic Ocean species, aquarium staff said.

“We are thrilled to be able to share this very rare and extraordinary animal with the community and visitors to Colorado,” Ryan Herman, general curator at Denver Downtown Aquarium, said in a statement.

Crush was shipped to the Pueblo restaurant from a supplier in Tennessee. It was caught off a coast of Canada, said Kastendieck, but she was unable to confirm which coast.

Genetic mutations can lead to lobsters that are orange, blue and yellow. Downtown Aquarium has had one orange lobster previously.

The Downtown Aquarium has more than 700 species of fish along with a stingray reef and three Sumatran tigers.

The Denver Gazette contributed to this report. Hanson reported from Helena, Montana.