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Rare blue lobster caught off Cape Cod – Metro US

Rare blue lobster caught off Cape Cod

A Plymouth man made an unusual catch this week when he trapped a bright blue lobster, his second such find during his career as a commercial lobsterman.

On Monday, Wayne Nickerson, who has been a lobsterman for the past 35 years in Plymouth, spotted the rare blue lobster in a wire trap as he was driving his boat, ABC News reported.

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“It was more brilliantly blue than the bluest hydrangea you’ve ever seen,” Jan Nickerson, Wayne’s wife, was quoted by the Boston Globe. “It was almost fluorescent. It was almost glowing.”

Jan Nickerson named the 2-pound lobster “Bleu” and said that it was the second blue crustacean that was caught by her husband during his career, ABC News added. The first was caught in 1990.

Tony LaCasse, spokesman for the New England Aquarium, said that some figures estimate the likelihood of a blue lobster as 1 in 2 million, according the Boston Globe. This one was even more rare because it weighed 2 pounds, which would have made it more likely to be eaten by a larger animal.

The blue coloring was thought to be caused by an excessive amount of a particular protein due to a genetic defect, ABC News added.

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Bleu was an instant attraction with dockside children who happened to be nearby after it was discovered, the Globe reported, adding that the animal was separated from the other lobsters and taken to a safe location.

“We want people to be able to see him,” Jan Nickerson told ABC News.