Fisher catches ‘one in two million’ blue lobster then throws it back in the sea
A ‘once in a two million’ blue lobster was discovered by a fisherman along the coast of Cornwall before being released back into the sea.
Tom Lambourn, 25, from Newlyn, was fishing in Penzance when he captured the foot-long colourful crustacean in his lobster pot.
He photographed the ‘very very rare’ creature before releasing 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 over-production of the protein crustacyanin.
A spokesman for National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow, Cornwall said that they were ‘amazed’ to see Tom’s photo, as fisherman have a one in a two million chance of catching a blue lobster.
Ben Marshall, National Lobster Hatchery supervisor, said: ‘It is very, very rare and very interesting to see a blue lobster.
‘Blue lobsters have a different colour pigmentation in their shells which means they find it much harder to camouflage so they get preyed upon, reducing their numbers.’
Fishermen who come across blue lobsters believe it to be a sign of good luck and usually do not eat it.
Last year, skipper Tim harrison caught a striking sapphire blue lobster off the coast of West Wales before putting it back in the sea.
Lobsters are typically dark brown or grey, before turning pink when cooked.
The discovery of the blue creatures have made headlines over the years, but there are other even rarer colours.
An orange lobster was caught in Wales in 2017 and taken to Angelsey Sea Zoo.
The odds of catching an orange one is thought to be one in 30 million, while the odds of catching an even rarer albino lobster is 1 in 100 million.
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