A Cape Cod fisherman shared a photo of a rare blue lobster he caught off the coast of Massachusetts.
Officials say finding a blue lobster is about as hard as winning the lottery: only one in 2 million lobsters are blue.
According to the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine, the coloration occurs due to a “genetic defect that causes the lobster to produce an excessive amount of a particular protein,” leading to the blue color.
The Institute adds that yellow-colored lobsters are the rarest. “The odds of finding a yellow lobster are estimated to be one in 30 million, six times more rare than a blue lobster,” it says. So-called “calico lobsters” are just as rare.
An orange-brown, or “split-colored,” lobster is even rarer: the Institute estimates there’s a one and 50 million chance of finding one.
