Fisherman catches one-in-100million ‘Cotton candy’ lobster

Fisherman catches one-in-100million ‘Cotton candy’ lobster

Bill Coppersmith was fishing in Casco Bay, off the coast of Maine in the United States when he landed a surprise catch that has odds of one-in-100million. He caught a blue, purple, and multicolored lobster that is known as a ‘cotton candy’. Bill, who has been a lobsterman for almost 40 years, named his new friend Haddie, after his granddaughter.

Mark Murrell, from a local Portland-based company, Get Maine Lobster, showed Bill’s incredible catch off in a video last Sunday, November 7, commenting elatedly, “Super, duper excited to show you what is called a cotton candy lobster. It is so rare, there’s only one in one hundred million caught”.

This crustacean’s iridescent colouring is the result of a rare genetic mutation. It might look pleasing to our eyes, but in the ocean, this colour scheme hardly lets the creature blend in with its surroundings to protect it from predators.

According to the American Chemical Society, astanxanthin is a red plant pigment that lobsters feed on, and it protects them from stress. “This pigment is stored in a lobster’s skin underneath its hard outer shell. But over time, the pigment begins to migrate into the shell, where different shell proteins alter the pigment to store it, changing its color”, explained the society.

“Just look how beautiful that lobster is. We’re going to contact some of our friends and see where we might be able to deliver this lobster”, said Murrell, assuring, “We’re not going to sell it, we’re not going to cook it. This is a beautiful lobster and we want to preserve it”. Soon after, it was announced that the Seacoast Science Centre in Rye, New Hampshire, was going to be Haddie’s new home.

New England has made a habit of uncovering rare crustaceans. In July a lobsterman in Gloucester, Massachusetts caught a blue lobster. A one-in-100million chance albino lobster was landed off the coast of Maine in February, as well as a rare yellow coloured lobster, as reported by metro.co.uk.

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