A father and son captured the video of a rare blue lobster while fishing in Maine, reported the Portland Press Herald.
Video of rare blue lobster found in Maine by father and son
Mark Rand and his son Luke snagged the gleaming blue crustacean Thursday morning near the ocean beyond Peaks Island in Casco Bay.
“We caught it early in the day and were taken back by how blue it was,” Luke added.
“We’ve never pulled one this color or even seen one to throw back,” said 36-year-old Luke. He has been fishing for two decades with his father.
His first instinct was to take out his phone to document their find because it was “such a rare occasion”, he added.
Lobster at display in a tank at family restaurant
Mark and Luke named the lobster “Lucky Bluey”. They preserved the crustacean and put it on display in a tank at a Portland waterfront restaurant.
Additionally, the diner is owned by Luke’s mother Becky who agreed to put it on display. The lobster will stay in the tank for a week. The father-son duo will reportedly release the lobster back into the wild, said The Post.
However, Luke hopes the lobster will be an attraction especially for the visitors who flock to the diner.
Becky’s Diner has a reputation for gathering popular politicians and celebrities. According to the Press Herald, the previous guests include former President Bill Clinton and Taylor Swift.
Generally, catching a blue lobster is an odd occurrence – over 1 in 2 million, according to the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute.
Although most lobsters are greenish-brown but they can also be yellow, orange, white, multicolored or blue. The blue shade comes from a genetic flaw that makes the lobster produce extreme amounts of a specific protein.
There is a growing population of lobsters in Maine, according to Newsweek. Over 96 million pounds of lobster were caught in the state in a year, as per a 2020 report by the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
