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A catch straight out of the deep blue sea
A rare event is said to happen once in a blue moon. But a blue moon has nothing on a blue lobster.
Canadian lobster boat captain Bobby Stoddard said he and his crew were hauling in their lobster traps one day in early May when one of the men called out, "Hey, we got a pretty one in this trap!"
"I turned around and said, 'Holy smoke!' " said Stoddard, 51, of Clarks Harbour, Nova Scotia.
In the trap with three other, ordinary greenish-brown lobsters was a remarkably bright blue one, the first lobster of that hue Stoddard had seen in his 33 years of fishing for a living.
"This is the only one that I've ever seen," he told CNN. "And my dad has been a lobsterman of about 55 years, and he caught one about 45 years ago, but hadn't seen one since."
Bobby Stoddard, lobster hunter
Stoddard captains one lobster boat, his father another, and his three brothers work with them. On a good day, they haul in about 3,000 of the crustaceans, he said. Multiply that times 33 seasons, and that's a lot of lobsters. But only one blue one.
According to the University of Maine Lobster Institute, blue lobsters are a one-in-2-million phenomenon. A genetic variation causes the lobster to produce an excessive amount of a particular protein that gives it that azure aspect.
Stoddard offered his find (a male, by the way) to a nearby ocean research institute, but "they didn't seem too interested," he said.
His girlfriend pushed him to offer it for sale for on the classified-ad site Kajiji.com, he said. Having no idea what the market for a 1.5-pound blue lobster might be, he priced it at $200.
"I wanted to put a number high enough on it so nobody would be interested in it," Stoddard confessed.
However, he said he started to get some "weird" phone calls and e-mails scolding him for trying to sell such a rare creature, so he canceled the ad.
"I'm kind of a shy guy," he said. "When things get controversial, I kind of go hide. This is what I do for a living; I catch lobsters and sell them. I'm just trying to do the right thing. I thought, 'I just don't need this hassle.' "
For now, the cerulean crustacean is residing comfortably in a nice, cold holding tank at Stoddard's business, feeding on bits of fish and mollusks as normal. A massive aquarium is under construction near the CN Tower in Toronto, but Stoddard hasn't decided whether to offer his specimen for display there.
"I don't know what the best thing is to do," he said. "It probably belongs back in the ocean, but I'd like for as many people as possible to see it."
Related stories:
Blue lobsters aren't the only rare ones - what about calico lobsters?
And then of course, there are always really, really big lobsters as well.
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Put him back in the ocean where he belongs!
He belongs on my plate!
Right next to the Corn.
Thanks, now my eyes are going to be rolling all day...
The remaining question: where"d he put the can of blue spay paint?
A non-vegetarians delight. Blue Moon and keep it shining on all of us Maine.
Lobster wears denim
He probably took a bite of Osama's brain! The ocean is very contaminated with terror cells! Ha!
i wonder if they will do an article about being able to buy cobalt blue lobsters from pet stores.
Lobster just wanted to join the blue man group. Nothing to see here.
What a beautiful animal . Anyone know what causes the blue coloration ?
Yes, it's in the article.
Does Red Lobster have to change their name now?
Awesome! He should put it back in the ocean!
Release it back into the ocean and let it live it's life.
FREE THE LOBSTER !!! When they catch a super big one once in a while, it should be returned immediately. They earn it.
Am I blue
Am I blue
Ain't these tears in my eyes tellin' you
Am I blue
You would be too
If your plans with your man
Done fell through
There was a time
I was the only one
And now I'm the sad and lonely one, lonely, lonely
Was I gay, until today
Now he's gone and we're through
Am I blue
Sorry for not using quotation marks and naming the source of the song. Lyrics by Harry Akst & Grant Clark 1929
Here comes a stingray (ooh wok ooh wok)
There goes a manta ray (ah ah ah)
In walked a jellyfish (huah)
There goes a dogfish (rea-owr)
Chased by a catfish (geh geh geh geh geh geh geh geh geh geh)
In flew a sea robin (Laaaaa)
Watch out for that piranha (eh rek eh rek ah hoo)
There goes a narwhal (eeeeh)
Here comes a bikini whale! (Aaaaah!)
<3
no comment will be better than this one; well played
We were at a party
His ear lobe fell in the deep
Someone reached in and grabbed it
It was a rock lobster
We were at the beach
Everybody had matching towel
Brag about it in Ogrimar General Chat
You mean Barren Chat?
For the horde!!!!
no! then people will just beg for a nerf on the drop rate.