Attack of the Mutant Lobsters!

Image Credit: Maine State Aquarium/Facebook

Seriously, what is going on with lobsters lately?

A couple crustaceans with bizarrely deformed claws have come out of the Massachusetts waters in the past week. Undoubtedly the stranger of the two is “Lola,” a lobster with a hand-like claw that’s making national headlines. According to the Bangor Daily News:

Lola the six-clawed lobster arrived at the aquarium on Thursday after being caught off Hyannis, Mass., on the F/V Rachel Leah, a fishing boat that is featured on a television series called “Lobster Wars.” The crustacean was named by Peter Brown, who captains the Rachel Leah.

The Maine State Aquarium in Boothbay Harbor will display Lola in a tank, where she’ll be able to befriend several other circus freaks:

Lola will be moved to public display at the aquarium sometime next week, where she’ll be flanked by numerous other curiosities from the deep, including orange, blue and half-and-half lobsters.

And in case you’re not  yet fearing the lobsterpocalypse, Good Morning Gloucester, documenter of many a strange lobster, posted a photo of this strange guy:

Image via Joey Ciaramitaro/Good Morning Gloucester

Lobstermen are always finding weird stuff, but perhaps the recent influx of headlines about bizzaro lobsters is coming because there are just more lobsters in general, thanks to a population boom off our shores. There are so many, in fact, that they’ve begun cannibalizing each other. That’s generally been bad news for lobstermen, who are hurt by the depleted prices, and great news for restaurants, who continue to price gouge us into eating their tasty, tasty creations. Hey, maybe at this rate, lobstermen can open a lobster circus and make a couple spare bucks on the side.