Beautiful Rare Blue Lobster Caught In Maine

As I have said many times over... Nature never fails to impress in some form or fashion. I still have a sense of awe every time I see something new or unique. For some strange reason, I suppose I think that we have (or just me) discovered it all and seen it all even when I logically know that we see new things all of the time.

Anyway... I know a lot of ATS'ers appreciate seeing something new, odd, rare, and different as much as I do.

So I give you The Blue Lobster



Check out the odds of catching a blue lobster in the article below. I think I would definitely end the day with the purchase of one or more lottery tickets.

SCARBOROUGH, Maine (AP) — A Maine lobsterman says he and his 14-year-old daughter caught a one-in-two-million crustacean: a blue lobster.

WCSH-TV (on.wcsh6.com... ) reports Jay LaPlante of the Miss Meghan Lobster Catch company caught the curious creature in Scarborough around 10:45 a.m. Saturday. LaPlante and daughter Meghan were hauling traps when she discovered the bright blue critter.

The story has a happy ending for the lobster. Meghan says she is naming it Skyler and donating it to the Maine State Aquarium, far from any dinner rolls or pats of butter. The aquarium says it has three other blue lobsters and an orange one.

LaPlante says it's the first time he has caught a blue lobster.

I am glad to see that they won't be eating the lobster or auctioning it off to the highest bidder for an expensive meal.

Ideally it would be nice if they could have released the lobster, but the odds are... it will survive longer in captivity than it would in the wild. I don't have facts to back that up with sea creatures, but I do know that when albino deer and such are born they often do not live as long as their normal counterparts. Sometimes it's from lack of being able to adequately camouflage themselves and other times there is a genetic shortcoming in there that shortens their normal lifespan. I would assume that it would be the same for animals in the water.

I know this isn't the first ever found, but it is the first I have seen and I just thought it was worth sharing. It is quite beautiful IMO. Maybe it will be a first for some of you as well.

You can read more here:

www.sfgate.com...



ETA - I got curious and tried to find out why a lobster would turn blue or be born blue and I came across this...

However, some of the blue, brown, green, red, and black tones can be genetic or they can have other causes. In some instances lighter/darker shades can be influenced by diet, sunlight, and bottom type. For example, if you put a blue lobster in a holding system and its color becomes normal over a period of time, that lobster is undoubtedly not a 'igenetic blue." It was probably blue as a result of a dietary deficiency.

Lobsters get their characteristic color, not only from genctics, but, also from the foods they eat. A natural-colored lobster fed a diet of squid will turn blue. A lobster deprived of all prey that eat phytoplankton (floating plantlike critters) appears pale blue.

Lobsters need to eat things that eat plants to get a carotenoid (pigment found in carrots) called astaxanthin (relative of pigment found in carrots), which binds to a protein in the lobster's shell. If lobsters do not get carotenoids from their diet, they can not bind the pigment because only plants can manufacture carotenoids.

The protein to which astaxanthin binds in natural-colored lobsters is blue in lobster shells and green in lobster eggs. When the astaxanthin is not in the diet, would-be natural colored lobsters appear blue because the blue pigment in the protein expresses itself.

So judging from that, it seems it could be due to diet or genetics.

www.lobsters.org...

Thats incredible. Im glad to see they are going to keep it in the aquarium, I wish they could just set it free though...but it could be captured again and not be so lucky. Im happy for the lobster.

Awesome!!

That's awesome. I have a friend who works at a lobster restaurant on Bar Harbor, he'd think he was hallucinating.

Ever see bilateral gynandromorphs? They're animals that are male on one side and female on the other. I read about a lobster they caught a few years ago it was a BG. S + F I love nature, can't get enough of it.

originally posted by: sicksonezer0
Thats incredible. Im glad to see they are going to keep it in the aquarium, I wish they could just set it free though...but it could be captured again and not be so lucky. Im happy for the lobster.

Awesome!!

I'm happy they aren't going to kill it too. I hope that it won't be too sad in the aquarium either though. I guess it's a catch 22 after you catch it. While it is beautiful to look at, it would have been better had it stayed where it was I think. Who knows how the lobster feels?

originally posted by: Yeahkeepwatchingme
That's awesome. I have a friend who works at a lobster restaurant on Bar Harbor, he'd think he was hallucinating.

Ever see bilateral gynandromorphs? They're animals that are male on one side and female on the other. I read about a lobster they caught a few years ago it was a BG. S + F I love nature, can't get enough of it.

I bet he would!! I don't eat any kind of fish or anything else that comes out of the water, but it does make me curious if it would even taste the same? Who knows. I wouldn't want to see it die so somebody could find out though.

I'm glad you liked it.

Maybe we should form a Blue Lobster Cult?

originally posted by: Fargoth
Maybe we should form a Blue Lobster Cult?

I failed massively at the joke I had here.

I always liked Blue Oyster Cult... Lobster would probably do just as well!

I wonder if it has been feeding on off run from a M&M factory. happens with Bees. Bee keepers were perplexed when they started getting Blue, Red and green Honey...Turns out they were feeding mainly on the sugary coloured snacks at a local factory.

What colour are lobsters out there normally then? All lobsters caught around here are blue except the odd albino

pretty things.

they had a big blue one and a big white one at the museum of science in boston, i saw when i was a kid.
i wonder if they are still alive.

i handled 1000's in my life as a chef.

i've seen some pretty dark blue ones and some with bright blue splotches.

they might have been fed squids before shipping out retail.

i've also handled the body of a 30+lb lobster. actually ate some of it and my step father mounted the crushing claw.

disclaimer; i didn't catch, cook or buy it. it was some dudes 30th birthday present from his friends we took home from the bar.

disclaimer; he was drunk as hell in our bar and at closing, we made sure he got home, safe. he invited us in.

disclaimer; it was in P-Town MA. very gay place. (important or not to the narrative)

disclaimer; i am not gay and neither was he, my friends were gay, tho.

disclaimer; nothing got raped except the poor lobster and it was delicious.

i felt bad, that was an old old lobster.
it was already cooked (steamed and chilled)
couldn't let it die in vain.

originally posted by: da pickles
What colour are lobsters out there normally then? All lobsters caught around here are blue except the odd albino

These are what every lobster I have ever seen looks like....


I've never seen one the color of the one in the OP. Sometimes you can see a very light bluish tint or splotch if the light hits it just right, but nothing like the OP pic.

a reply to: tsingtao

I'm so busy reading all of your disclaimers, I can't think of anything else.

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe


www.arkive.org...
This is what we get round here

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

Thank you for an awesome story. I have never heard of
a blue lobster nor any of the other color varieties.
I wonder if the color will return to normal since it
will be fed a nutritious diet.

Cheers
Ektar

Now Im hungry..

I think they should put it in an aquarium and give it to Prince. Pretty, nummy lobster.

originally posted by: Ektar
a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

Thank you for an awesome story. I have never heard of
a blue lobster nor any of the other color varieties.
I wonder if the color will return to normal since it
will be fed a nutritious diet.

Cheers
Ektar

That's a good question. It would definitely lose some of it's appeal and reason for being in an aquarium if that happened wouldn't it?

One day it's blue,the next day it's not... I want my money back!!