Seasonal & Holidays

Rare Blue Lobster Caught By Plymouth Fisherman: Report

The odds of finding a blue lobster? About 1 in two million.

PLYMOUTH, MA — It was the catch of a lifetime. Plymouth fisherman Wayne Nickerson, captain of the Windsong, recently caught a rare blue lobster.

The lobster was aptly named "Bleu," according to ABC News, and Nickerson will spare it from the dinner table. He said he's looking to give it to a local aquarium to take care of it.

About one in every two million lobsters is blue, accoridng to the University of Maine. The blue color comes from a genetic defect that causes the lobster to produce an excessive amount of a specific protein. Even rarer are yellow lobsters — the odds of those occurring are about one in every 30 million.

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This is a yellow lobster caught earlier this year near Newfoundland:

Albino lobsters exist — at an even rarer rate of one in 100 million, according to the University of Maine:

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Credit: University of Maine

Top photo of blue lobster: Richard Wood/Flickr

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