A father and son fishing in Maine caught a bright blue lobster marine biologists say is a rare, one-in-2-million sea discovery.
The crustacean – named “Lucky Blue” – was caught in ocean waters beyond Peaks Island off the southeast portion of the state, said Becky Rand, whose son Luke Rand, caught the lobster Thursday.
Luke Rand, 36, serves as sternman on his dad’s boat, the Audrey B. Rand, his mother told USA TODAY Tuesday.
And his mom says it’s not the first time he’s caught a colorful lobster with his dad.
The duo, she said, has also caught rare calico and orange lobsters over the years.
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Luke and his mother live in Falmouth, a small town just north of Portland. She said her son has been lobstering on his father’s boat off-and on since he was 8 years old.
His father, Mark Rand, has been fishing for more than 60 years, she said.
“We’ve never pulled one this color or even seen one to throw back,” Luke Rand told the Portland Press Herald.
He told the outlet the lobster is a male, legal-size, healthy crustacean.
“This was a keeper,” his mom said Tuesday. “If it’s a female or if its not a big enough male they have to throw it back.”
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Plans to return ‘Lucky Blue’ home
The lobster is currently in a tank on display at his mother’s Portland waterfront restaurant, Becky’s Diner.
“We’re throwing it back in two weeks,” she said. “But for now we thought the kids would enjoy it at an aquarium close to home. We named him ‘Lucky Blue’ because he’s going back in the water and not going to be boiled.”
According to the New England Aquarium, wild blue lobsters are about a one-in-2 million discovery. The aquarium got its own resident blue lobster in February 2020 and has also had resident lobsters of different colors including orange and calico.
The aquarium has received several rare colored lobsters from fishermen and retail outlets over the years, including a yellow and a calico lobster, both occurring naturally in about one in 30 million lobsters. It’s also received an orange lobster, which occurs in about one in 20 million lobsters, according to the aquarium’s website.
In addition, it has received a highly rare half black-half orange “Halloween” colored lobster, which occurs in the wild at an incidence of in 1 in 50 million, according to the aquarium, where colorful lobsters are on display for visitors to view their unusual coloring since they are more accustomed to seeing lobsters in their natural state of brown before turning red once cooked.
Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Blue lobster caught in Maine: Odds are one-in-2 million, experts say
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