Cotton Candy Lobster Caught in Maine: What Could Have Caused Its Unique Iridescent Coloring?

Bill Coppersmith, a fisherman and a lobsterman for 40 years, has recently caught a rare 'one in 100 million' cotton candy-colored lobster off the coast of Maine's Casco Bay. It is believed that catching a cotton candy lobster is a find that may only happen once in a lifetime.

CBS Boston reports that Coppersmith has named the lobster Haddie, after his granddaughter. Fortunately, Haddie did not end up on a plate. Right now, she is in a tank in the lobster company Get Maine in Portland and will be transferred as soon as they find a permanent aquarium where the lobster will stay for the rest of its days.

What Caused Its Unique Cotton Candy Color?

Catching a cotton candy lobster may be a once-in-a-lifetime feat, but this is not the first time it happened. In 2018, Canadian lobsterman Robin Russell also caught one that he named "Lucky." He donated the lobster to the Huntsman Marine Center in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick.

Although there is no concrete figure as to how many they are, the lobster is undoubtedly a rare find. Associate Professor Michael Tlusty of the University of Massachusetts said that these types of lobsters could be found every four to five years. So, what caused their unique color?

According to National Geographic, this unique color is usually due to a genetic mutation that affects the proteins that bind to the pigments. Genetic mutations can produce some crazy colorings, such as the rare blue, yellow, speckled calico, and even two-tailed split lobsters.

On the other hand, it could also be due to their diet. The American Chemical Society said that lobsters commonly eat a red pigment in their plant food called astaxanthin that helps protect them from stress. The red pigment is stored in their skin under the hard shell but migrates into the shell where it is altered and stored to change its color.

Experts say that if Lucky or Haddie does not change over time after eating an astaxanthin diet, then it is most likely that a mutation caused their color.

Rare Colors of Lobsters

A cotton candy-colored is considered to be a rare type of lobster. But there are also other rare lobsters that have been caught in the past few years, according to Daily Mail.

Earlier this year, fishermen also caught a yellow lobster off the coast of Maine. They named the lobster Banana and were eventually donated to the University of New England's Marine Science Center in Biddeford.

Then in April, some fishermen also caught a rare blue lobster off the Cornish coast of Penzance before they released it back to the wild. In July, another blue lobster was reeled in near the shores of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

A year before that, in July 2020, a blue lobster was delivered to a Red Lobster restaurant in Ohio. Luckily, an employee noticed the rarity and refused to cook the blue lobster and instead transported it to a nearby zoo.

Several rare lobsters have been caught, like the 2019 calico lobster in Silver Springs, Maryland, and an albino lobster captured in Yorkshire in December 2019. More so, there was also a translucent lobster caught off the coast of Maine in August 2018.

Check out more news and information on Lobster in Science Times.