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This Extremely Deformed Lobster Looks Like It Has A Hand

Dina Spector   

This Extremely Deformed Lobster Looks Like It Has A Hand

Lola Lobster

Maine State Aquarium

Lola the lobster doesn't look like other crustaceans of her kind. She has six claws - one normal claw on her right side and five claws on the other side. The deformed claw kind of looks like a hand.

"I have never seen one quite like this before," Aimee Hayden-Roderiques, manager at the Maine State Aquarium where Lola is on display, said in an e-mail.

The 4-pound lobster was caught by fishermen off the coast of Hyannis in Massachusetts. She was brought to the aquarium last week and her exhibit tank is open for public viewing starting today until Sept. 29, when the aquarium closes for the season.

Claw abnormalities are typically the result of a genetic mutation. It's not clear if Lola was born this way or if it happened during regeneration after the claw was lost. (Lobsters can drop a claw if they are trapped or to escape danger, such as in a fight with another lobster. The claw with grow back after its next molt).

The lobster's meat should not be affected by the deformity, says Hayden-Roderiques. Lobster boil anyone?

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