Luke Rand, 36, has fished since he was 16 years old, while his father Mark has fished for more than four decades. However, they have never captured anything equal to what they did off the coast of Maine last week.
The couple found a rare, vivid blue lobster on August 11 in Casco Bay, according to the Portland Press Herald. Luke Rand said that it looked to be of legal size and healthy appearance.
“We’ve never pulled one this color or even seen one to toss back,” Rand told the magazine, adding that when they showed it to their dealer, everyone couldn’t resist taking photographs. It is not something that occurs often.
A unique blue lobster that was captured on Peaks Island will soon find a new home. (📷: Luke Rand)
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— CBS 13 News (@WGME) on 12 August 2022
The father and son want to keep the lobster in a tank inside Beck’s Diner, the family’s famed Portland eatery.
This is not the first blue lobster to be discovered outside of Casco Bay. According to Smithsonian Magazine, a lobsterman discovered a female lobster with a shell that resembled blue cotton candy last year.
Meghan LaPlante and her father snagged a blue lobster south of Portland, Maine, in 2014.
According to the New England Aquarium, wild blue lobsters are a one in two million chance occurrence. The aquarium has housed resident lobsters of various hues, including yellow, orange, and even calico, as well as a blue resident lobster since February 2020.
According to the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute, most lobsters have a greenish-brown tint, although “sometimes” they are blue, yellow, white, or a combination of colors. According to the institution, all lobsters, even those that are white, will become red when cooked.
Images depicting the arrival of the “cotton candy” lobster from Casco Bay, Maine. She will remain secure from predators and will educate people about the incredible variety of marine life. #motivatingconservation image: http://twitter.com/Hci13P4COP
12 November 2021 — Seacoast Science Ctr (@SeacoastSciCtr)
In Gloucester, Massachusetts, another lobsterman discovered a blue lobster the previous year. The guy reportedly hauled the lobster onboard a fishing trawler to snap photographs before releasing it back into the ocean, as reported by CBS Boston.