Rare Blue Lobster Caught Off Mass. Coast

HINGHAM, Mass. -- A blue lobster, so rare that only one in two million have the color, has been trapped off the Massachusetts coast.

Pictures Of Blue Lobster

The lobster, nicknamed Betty Blue, was found in a trap off Minot's Light, one mile offshore of Scituate, Mass.

The lobster is so blue that "she glowed in the trap," said Eddie Figueiredo, who trapped the pound-and-a-quarter lobster.

Because of their unique color, blue lobsters are more susceptible to prey and have a more difficult chance at survival.

"The reason you don't want to be a blue lobster is you stick out like a sore thumb," Professor Ronald Christensen told the Portland Press Herald.

Christensen's research found that the color is the result of a rare genetic defect that causes a lobster to produce an excessive amount of a certain protein. If they are cooked, they will have the same baked orange color that their red brethren have.

Betty Blue is now a guest of the Hingham, Mass., Lobster Pound, where she'll be on display.