The Northeastern athletic department has announced that it will retire the Huskies nickname effective at the end of the spring semester and adopt a new marine-themed mascot: the Blue Lobster.

During an interview in the Ell Hall lobby, where workers replaced the King Husky statue with one of Bartholomew the Blue Lobster, Associate Athletic Director for Mascot Innovation Wally G. Fish applauded the distinctive, new nickname.

“There are plenty of college teams out there that are the Huskies, but not one is the Blue Lobsters,” Fish noted. “This instantly positions the university and athletic department as national leaders in mascot advancement.”

Blue lobsters have already been part of the Northeastern community for some time, as a few of the uniquely-colored crustaceans are housed at the university’s Marine Science Center in Nahant, Massachusetts. Professor of crustaceanal history Jack Shrimpson said the Blue Lobster nickname better represents Northeastern and builds upon the university’s leading research portfolio in marine science.

“The blue lobster is a unique specimen that only occurs once among every 2 million lobsters,” Shrimpson noted. “A lot of what makes Northeastern unique is its signature and innovating programs, like co-op.”

The university’s new fight song, Battle Hymn of the Blue Lobster, was written by undergraduate students in the music department and is set to the tune of the B-52’s Rock Lobster.

Northeastern’s new colors will be blue and black. Or gold and white. That’s still being debated.

This article is part of Northeastern’s 2015 April Fools’ Day coverage.