See the Rare ‘Electric Blue’ Lobster Found Off the Coast of Massachusetts
Meet Neptune, an American lobster with a vibrantly colored shell that results from a genetic mutation affecting pigmentation
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In the wild, American lobsters (Homarus americanus) typically have drab, mottled-brown shells, which help them blend in with their surroundings. But every once in a while, their natural pigmentation processes go awry, producing some unusual hues.
Such was the case with Neptune, an “electric blue” crustacean that now lives at Northeastern University’s Marine Science Center in Nahant, Massachusetts. Neptune is a rare specimen: The odds of a lobster being blue are about one in two million, according to a statement from the university. And to catch one is even more unusual.
The striking creature ended up at the center—and not on someone’s dinner plate—thanks to Brad Myslinski, a lobster fisherman who captains the Sophia & Emma in Salem, Massachusetts. When he caught the unusually colored lobster in July, he knew right away he’d pulled up something special.
Myslinski contacted Dave Winchester, a science teacher at a nearby high school, who helped him donate the lobster to the university. When the crustacean arrived several weeks ago, the Marine Science Center was hosting a group of high school students for a summer program. The students voted to name the creature Neptune, in honor of the Roman god of the sea.
Neptune’s blue coloring is the result of a genetic anomaly that affects pigmentation. Similar mutations can also cause lobsters to turn yellow, calico, albino or even “cotton candy”—a mix of light blue and light pink.
“With the mutation that causes them to be blue or a different color, the lobsters have all of those colors mixed in naturally, and the mutation is actually something that knocks out the expression of the other colors,” says Jay Krithivas, assistant outreach instructor at the center, to the Daily Item’s Zach Laird. “So in a way, the mutation is just revealing a color that’s always been there.”
Need to know: What causes blue pigmentation in lobsters?
A protein complex called crustacyanin gives lobsters their blue color.
Aside from his bright blue shell, Neptune is an otherwise normal American lobster. He’s likely around seven years old, and he weighs about two pounds, per the university. Some of his favorite pastimes include tucking under rocks and chowing down on mussels.
Neptune is currently living in a touch pool, alongside green sea urchins, cunner fish, sculpin fish, Jonah crabs and spider crabs. Since lobsters are usually solitary creatures, the center is limiting the amount of time visitors can spend with Neptune; they also added a hut to his habitat so he can hide whenever he wants.
“Neptune is doing a really great job adjusting,” says Neida Villanueva, an ecologist at Northeastern University, in the statement.
If all goes well, Neptune will lead a long, happy life in captivity, helping to support the center’s educational programs by just being himself. American lobsters have long life expectancies, with some living to be nearly 100 years old, as long as they don’t get caught, contract a virus or get stuck in their shell while molting, per the university.
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Coincidentally, another blue lobster was also recently donated to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science & Technology East, reports the Standard-Times’ Matthew Ferreira. The unnamed creature was caught by a local lobster fisherman earlier this summer.
After catching the blue lobster, the fisherman—whose identity has not been revealed publicly—reached out to the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries with “explicit instructions that they didn’t want anybody to eat it,” says Forrest Kennedy, the school’s seawater lab manager, to the Standard-Times.
“We volunteered to adopt it,” Kennedy adds.
That lobster weighs a little more than a pound and is estimated to be around eight or nine years old. The crustacean is living in an educational touch tank, which is accessible to students and members of the public.
“He’s a bright, gorgeous blue,” says Kennedy to the Standard-Times. “You don’t see many this blue—he’s pretty.”
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