‘1-in-100 Million’ Cotton Candy Lobster Caught in Maine Finds a Home at New England Ocean Center

Most lobsters are brown, and very few are blue. But pastel cotton candy pink and blue? Almost out of the question. By Austin Cannon November 10, 2021 Advertisement Pin FB More Tweet Email Send Text Message Print

The super rare lobster has a new home, safely protected from hungry seafood aficionados.

Haddie, the cotton candy-colored lobster who was caught off the coast of Maine, will soon join her family at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, N.H.—mere days after she found herself in lobsterman Bill Coppersmith's boat.

Coppersmith caught the lobster on Friday, according to Fox News. He told Get Maine Lobster CEO Mark Murrell immediately and named her Haddie, after his granddaughter. Unlike the rest of her lobster brethren, Haddie wouldn't be put up for sale.

"This is the first cotton candy we have discovered," Murrell told the news channel. "Finding one like this is a true gift. It shows Mother Nature's true artistry."

The pastel Haddie—most lobsters are some form of brown—likely got her color because of a genetic mutation, Fox News reported. It was the first time Coppersmith had seen one in his 40 years on the water.

When you see the odds, it's surprising he even found Haddie. According to the Maine Lobstermen's Community Alliance, one out of every 2 million lobsters is blue while one in every 30 million is yellow. Finding the one in 100 million lobster like this? You can almost forget about it—until now.  

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While she was safe from being eaten, Haddie still needed a forever home, so Get Maine Lobster tweeted on Tuesday, asking for an aquarium that might be able to give her a permanent home. The Seacoast Science Center answered the call.

"A rare blue lobster will be on its way to SSC soon," the center posted on Facebook Wednesday. "We will not have it on public display right away as we have an acclimation protocol for all new animals in our saltwater tank system. We will post when this beauty can be visited by the public."

Congrats to Haddie for finding a fabulous forever home—and to Coppersmith for the truly excellent discovery.