A rare cotton candy-colored lobster was caught by fishermen off the coast of Maine last weekend.
Experts estimate that the chance of discovering a lobster with a beautiful light blue shell in the wild is about 1 in 100 million. Bill Coppersmith, an employee at the seafood company Get Maine Lobster in Portland, Maine, caught the unique lobster named Haddie in Casco Bay.
The lobster with a blue shell due to a genetic defect. (Photo: Get Maine Lobster)
Lobsters living in the North Atlantic typically have a dark green-brown color and turn orange-red when cooked. However, some American lobsters exhibit unusual colors such as blue, yellow, bright red, orange, or white. A few individuals even have shells with two different colors dividing their bodies.
According to the Maine Lobstermen’s Community Alliance, about 1 in 2 million lobsters are blue, while the chance of finding a yellow lobster is 1 in 30 million. White and cotton candy-colored lobsters are the rarest, with a rate of 1 in 100 million.
The color of lobsters is determined by astaxanthin pigment. This pigment is naturally red but turns blue or yellow when combined with certain types of proteins. Typically, the pigments in different layers of the American lobster’s shell create a dark green-brown color. However, many lobsters have genetic defects that result in unique shell colors.
The cotton candy-colored lobster caught by Coppersmith has very low pigment levels, while albino lobsters have no pigment at all. The overly bright shell color is a disadvantage for these lobsters, as their natural coloration helps them blend into their environment and evade predators.
Coppersmith shared that he has been fishing for lobsters for 40 years and has only encountered two lobsters with special colors (orange and white) before Haddie. He named it after his granddaughter. The staff at Get Maine Lobster do not plan to sell or process Haddie. Instead, they will discuss with local organizations and aquariums to see if they can adopt it.
