Nature always has a way to surprise us, and now, on the coasts of Massachusetts Neptune has appeared. No, not the planet, it is a blue lobster that shines and looks like it came out of The Little Mermaid movie.
But finding a lobster like this is very difficult, in fact, the probability is one in two million! And no, it is not to eat it… it ended up at the Marine Science Center of Northeastern University, where it has become a real celebrity, our lobster is famous!
The discovery at sea
It was in July when a fisherman, Brad Mylinski (captain of the ship Sophia & Emma) found this unique creature in his nets, it looked like it came out of a story. A blue lobster that shone as only a Disney drawing could do.
He could have sold it or cooked it, like any other catch, but he preferred to call Dave Winchester, science professor, to know what it was.
He wanted to donate the lobster to an educational or research center, a decision that not everyone would make, but thanks to that initiative, Neptune lives in an observation tank, surrounded by biologists and students who cannot stop looking at it in amazement.
The secret of its color
Neptune is different from the others, everything seems to be due to an excess of crustacyanin, a protein that alters the pigmentation of the shell until it dyes it an electric blue, something impossible to ignore. Northeastern University explained that it is not an error in identification, but a genetic anomaly that this lobster suffers.
There are other uncommon variations: yellow lobsters, albino ones or even with shades that resemble cotton candy, but the blue color remains one of the rarest. Researcher Sierra Muñoz said she had seen many lobsters with a touch of blue, but never of this electric blue.
“I was left breathless.”
One in millions
Only one lobster in every two million develops this type of pigmentation. Finding Neptune was as unlikely as finding a needle in a haystack in the middle of the ocean! That is why its story has gone so viral, our ecosystems and the biodiversity of our planet are so incredible that every once in a while it is normal for them to surprise us!
More than luck, science
That Neptune is today in a laboratory and not on a plate is luck. A fisherman has made it possible for a unique specimen in the world to be the object of study for science, and thus know what has happened with its pigmentation, with its genetics and how we could preserve these very special marine species.
Neptune, a small blue lobster that was saved from the pot, has become the official mascot of this center, and nature gives us these moments every once in a while. Amazement, admiration and research at a time when overfishing affects most of our coasts..
We may not see another like it again for a long time, but this one has already left its mark!
Do you want to know more about this incredible lobster?