Meet Blue, The Extremely Rare Lobster Who's One In Two Million!!!!!!!

by **J The Kidd** Mon Sep 22, 2008 11:50 pm

Pulled from the ocean to be served in a posh restaurant, this lobster could be forgiven for feeling a little blue.

But his unusual colour has proved a lifesaver for the unusual 5lb crustacean as he has been deemed too interesting to eat.

Saved from the the boiling pot, Blue - as he has naturally been
christened - was caught off the coast of the Isle of Man by three
stunned lobsters potters.

Scientists say just one lobster in two million is blue - the result of
a genetic defect that causes them to produce an excessive amount of
protein.

He was caught by John Williams, Bev Cregeen and Wayne Pearson who were
pulling lobster pots on to their boat, Whisky Galore, when they spotted
Blue sitting forlornly in one of the pots.

Miss Cregreen said: 'He was a different colour from the rest of them,
but it was only when we looked it up on the internet we realised how
rare blue lobsters are.

'We don't know what to do with him. It would be nice to put him somewhere for people to see. He's too good to be eaten.'

And because of his different colour, Blue, cannot be released back into
the wild as his colour makes him a target for other lobsters.

Until a suitable home can be found Blue is being kept in a stock box
where he is safe from the snapping pincers of other jealous lobsters.

A research study conducted by Professor Ronald Christensen, at the
University of Connecticut, USA, found that excessive levels of a
protein combines with a red caratenoid molecule known as astaxanthin,
forming a blue complex known as crustacyanin. It is this that makes the
lobster blue.

In 2006 lobsterman David Percy caught a yellow lobster near Whaleback
Island in the US at the mouth of the Kennebec River. The odds of
finding a yellow lobster are approximately 1 in 30 million.

It is estimated that only about one in 100 million lobsters are albino
- lacking in coloured pigments. They are known as 'white' or 'crystal'
lobsters.