A lobsterman for over two decades, Robinson Russell had the surprise of his life when he spotted what came into his net. Last November, he was fishing off the New Brunswick coast when he caught one of the rarest lobsters ever seen – “a cotton candy” lobster.
“I have been fishing for over 20 years and it’s the first one I’ve ever seen anything like this,” Russel who lives on the island of Grand Manan, off the Canadian coast, told THE DODO.
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The fisherman initially thought it might be a white lobster, but at a closer look he realized it has more like a rainbow pigmentation. A translucent blue shell with some purple hints, which Russell nicknamed Lucky, the cotton candy lobster. In the end, it could only takes tons of luck to catch such a rare lobster. Actually, it is so rare that only one in 100 million lobster are born this way.
The incredibly rare color is due to a genetic condition which creates a protein that leads to unusual shell pigmentation such as orange, blue, yellow and even calico. When he realized just how rare and special this lobster was, Russell decided to spare its life.
“We named it Lucky on the way in, and I posted a few photos of it on Instagram,” the fisherman said. “I really didn’t want to sell it, so I ended up donating it to the Huntsman Aquarium in St. Andrews where it will now live out the rest of its days.”
You can see Lucky in its new home by watching the video bellow:
h.t: thedodo
