‘1 in 100 million’: Rare ‘cotton candy’ lobster discovered off New Hampshire, Maine coast
The lobster will join two other lobsters of similar hues at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, New Hampshire.
Father and son catch rare blue lobster in Gulf of Maine
36-year-old Luke Rand from Portland, Maine and his father captured the crustacean in the Gulf of Maine. Rand says a lobsterman can go his entire career without catching a blue lobster. (Video credit: Luke Rand)
Awash in shades of baby blue and lavender, a rare lobster is making quite the splash.
A lobster crew discovered the vibrant cotton candy-colored creature off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire and is giving it to the Seacoast Science Center in the Granite State.
"Cotton candy lobsters are approximately 1 in 100 million!" a representative at the science center told Fox News Digital via email.
The "cotton candy" lobster.
(Seacoast Science Center / FOX Weather)
The lobster will join two other lobsters of similar hues at the center.
The lobster belongs to a species known as the American lobster or Homarus americanus. Unlike the recently trapped cerulean crustacean, the color of American lobsters is typically either olive-green or greenish-brown, according to NOAA.
Coloration of a lobster’s shell is due to genetics and their diet, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. As far as the "cotton candy" lobster goes, it appears their coloration comes from a genetic anomaly, the Seacoast Science Center said.
The two other "cotton candy" lobsters at the Seacoast Science Center.
(Seacoast Science Center / FOX Weather)
The northwest Atlantic waters have produced other lobsters of stunning colors.
For example, a blue lobster was caught near the Gulf of Maine in 2022. The lobstermen who caught the animal said it would be donated for research or released back into the wild.