Maine's chilly waters didn't cause one of its signature lobsters to appear a metallic blue when it made landfall on Saturday morning.
Jay LaPlante, a lobster trapper, and his 14-year-old daughter Meghan caught the cerulean blue crustacean around 10:45 a.m., the Portland Press Herald reported. The father and daughter were fishing off Pine Point, about 10 miles southwest of Portland, Maine.
"It definitely stood out," Jay LaPlante told the Herald.
Meghan named the lobster "Skyler" because that's her favorite name. She will donate it to the Maine State Aquarium in West Boothbay Harbor on Tuesday. Until then, Skyler will remain in a separate tank for its own protection. Lobsters can be cannibalistic.
Only one in two million blue lobsters exist in nature, according to the University of Maine's Lobster Institute. A genetic defect that produces an "excessive amount of a particular protein" causes the color change.
Most lobsters appear "dark bluish green to greenish brown," with more red on the body and claws, and green on the legs. They become their signature red color when placed in the boiler pot.
The teenage LaPlante runs her own business called "Miss Meghan Lobster Catch" with the assistance of her father, according to the Portland Press Herald. She has operated the small business out of her family's home for the last eight years. She sets 150 traps a year under a student license, and will obtain her commercial license next year. Meghan can then set out 300 traps.
The blue lobster is just one amazing catch of the summer in New England. A lobsterman caught a calico lobster in his New Hampshire trap. The odds of finding a lobster with the orange and dark blue patches on its shell are one in 30 million, the University of Maine Lobster Institute revealed.
