A fisherman couldn’t believe his eyes after he managed to catch an exceptionally rare blue lobster along the coast of Cornwall in England.
Tom Lambourn, 25, was fishing off the coast of Penzance when he caught the incredibly rare ‘one-in-two-million’ crustacean in his lobster pot.
Lambourn took some pictures of the ultra-rare blue lobster and threw it back into the sea as it was “too small to bring into land”.
He said: ‘With every pot you never know what is going to be inside, and I’ve certainly never seen one that colour before.
‘This is only my second fishing season so I think I’ve been very lucky.‘I measured it and it was undersized so there was never any thought of keeping it.
‘If it had been bigger, I would have taken it to the National Hatchery.‘I sent them some photos of the lobster and they told me it is one in two million so that is quite special.’Lobsters that are blue have a genetic abnormality which causes an overproduction of the protein crustacyanin.
The staff at the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow on Cornwall were also surprised when they looked at the brilliant blue hue of the lobster.
A hatchery spokesperson said, “It is a pretty rare colour morph to come across, about one in two million chance, so we were amazed when Tom sent us the photo of it. The lobster was too small to bring in to land so it popped back in the sea so it can keep growing. Who knew that a crustacean could be so vibrant?”
Ben Marshall, the supervisor at the National Lobster Hatchery, added, “It is very, very rare and very interesting to see a blue lobster. The skipper threw it back as it was under the length you are allowed to catch lobsters in Cornwall (12 inches).”
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