US fisherman reels in extremely rare blue lobster, see viral pictures

A fisherman in Massachusetts discovered a unique and extremely rare blue lobster in his bucket. Lobsterman Toby Burnham nabbed the brightly coloured crustacean during a routine fishing haul on the shores of Gloucester, Massachusetts, on Friday (July 16). 

However, the fisherman released the lobster into the ocean after taking some stunning pictures of it. Burnham worked at Captain Joe and Sons Lobster Company, who said, "Our lobsterman Toby caught this extremely rare blue lobster. He decided to bring it in for photographing and then release it back to the sea."

Giving a statement to a local daily, Burnham said, "I thought it was a fish flapping around in there but when I looked, it was a lobster. He was really blue, so I took him. I snatched him right out of the trap."

On asking why he threw back the crustacean Burnham explained, "Well, it’s one in a million lobster, so you know we can throw one back … I threw it back where it was so he got his chance to go back and to his hole."

Since the catch, pictures of the blue lobster have gone viral on Facebook. People are commenting on its colour calling it beautiful and some also appreciated the fisherman for throwing it back into the ocean. 

Researchers believe the specimen is extremely rare, and estimate the odds of finding a blue lobster at 1 in every 2 million, according to the New England Aquarium. The blue colour is due to a genetic anomaly in which the animals develop an excess of the pigment crustacyanin.