NAHANT — Local lobstermen stumbled across a rare catch earlier this week when they hauled in a bright blue lobster during a routine trip off of Nahant Wharf.
“I’ve seen one once or twice, but not as blue as this,” said Nahant resident and former lobsterman, Ted Mahoney, whose son, Josh, was one of the lobstermen involved in the find. “This is a really unusual looking one. It’s one of the bluest we’ve ever seen”
According to Nationalgeographic.org, the crustacean’s bluish hue is caused by a genetic mutation in which the lobster’s body makes too much of a certain protein that changes the color of its shell from the typical olive or greenish-brown to something far more eye-catching.
Rob Bayer, Executive Director of the University of Maine Lobster Institute, said such finds are fairly unusual, telling BBC.com in 2016 that the likelihood of a lobster being found with such coloring is widely thought to be one in two million, although he did admit those odds are largely an estimation.
According to the BBC website, some fishermen even consider blue lobsters to be a sign of good fortune.
“Occasionally you get what they call ‘leopard lobsters,’ lobsters that have little spots on them,” said Mahoney as he recalled the 40 years he himself spent in the business. “You get lobsters that are red on one side and dark on the other side, or lobsters that are pure white.”
Other lobstermen at Nahant Wharf Wednesday detailed a few of their own past catches, including Jim Moleti, who showed pictures on his phone of a pure white lobster and a two-toned lobster, both of which he said he caught on the job a few years ago.
“Both of those are even more rare than the blue,” pointed out Justin Mahoney, the brother of Josh and a lifelong lobsterman himself.
He later added: “We start at 3:30 in the morning, so if you have something like that to brighten your day, it’s nice.”
As for the fate of the lobster, the younger Mahoney said his brother likely notched the animal — the act of creating a v-shaped mark on the tail meant to identify and protect a species breeder from harvest — and released it back into the ocean to swim another day.
“You’d rather see it stay in its own environment,” he said. “We like nature. That’s half the reason we do this.”
