Fisherman Catches Rare Iridescent Lobster That's Actually Quite Beautiful

Lobsters are pretty darn delicious, but they’re nothing to look at. If their creepily long antennae and beady eyes make you shudder, you’re not alone. And those stories about lobsters screaming when you put them in a boiling pot of water only make it worse. Fortunately (or unfortunately if you’re hungry), this story doesn’t involve the killing of any lobsters.

Alex Todd, a fisherman in Maine, recently caught a very odd looking lobster off the coast. While you might be familiar with red, orange, yellow, brown, and blue lobsters, chances are you’ve never seen an iridescent lobster.

Even if you think lobsters are icky sea creatures, there’s no denying that that’s one pretty lobster. Do you think you’d hold on to the shell? You could even keep him (or her) as a pet!

So what caused the weird coloring? The Maine Coast Fisherman’s Association shared Alex Todd’s photo with the following explanation: “A normal lobster gets its color by mixing yellow, blue, and red protein pigments. Through different genetic mutations, you can get a blue, yellow, or red (uncooked) lobster. You can also get strange mixtures of those colors as well.”

According to the Association: “This lobster probably has a genetic condition called leucism which isn’t a total loss of pigment (which would make it an albino) but instead a partial loss. This is why you can still see some hints of blue on the shell and color on the eyes. “

Todd’s catch was an unusual one, but an albino lobster would have been an even more unlikely find. WMTW 8 says the chances of seeing an albino lobster are one-in-100 million! That said, those are better odds than winning the Powerball, so maybe we should all head to the Northeast with rod and reel in hand.

h/t WMTW 8