Incredibly Rare Blue Lobster Caught by Maine Fisherman: 'One in 2 Million'

An exceptionally rare blue lobster was caught by a Maine fisherman, who dubbed the crustacean the "prettiest" he'd ever seen.

Blake Haass, located on Mount Desert Island, shared two clips to his TikTok account, @maverick_207, showing off the incredible catch.

The 27-year-old held up the blue-toned lobster to the camera, with the first clip captioned: "Blue Lobster!!!! 1 in 2,000,000."

Since being shared Wednesday, the original video racked up a whopping 23 million views.

Speaking to Newsweek, Haass said: "I have never seen a blue lobster this bright of a blue or as pretty. We might see a lobster once in a while with a slight tint of blue on a claw or tail maybe but that's it. This is the first one I have ever seen this blue all over! And such a beautiful blue.

"I hope I find another blue lobster again but they are so rare you only hear of one being caught once in a great while across the state of Maine."

He estimated the lobster was around 10 years old, saying: "It's such a rare find; I definitely wanted to release her back into the ocean, and you can see on one of the videos another fisherman had caught her before and notched her tail twice, so she cannot be kept.

"I know a lot of my friends and older fisherman that have been fishing longer than me and they have never caught a blue lobster so I feel lucky to have caught this one for sure!"

In the clip, Haass, a fisherman since 2013, said: "Check out what we just caught in this trap, we got a blue lobster. I looked it up it's 1 in 2 million, of how rare these are.

"And that is probably one of the prettiest blues and whites I've ever seen."

Echoing what Haass said, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) noted: "According to the [Akron] zoo, blue lobsters occur one in every 2 million. And the chances of one being caught, shipped, saved, and not savored? We'll go with virtually impossible."

Despite the catch being exceptionally rare, Haass admitted it wasn't the first time he'd come across a colorful lobster.

"The one I caught 10 years ago was not nearly as blue as this one; that's why I was so excited about it," he told Newsweek.

Holding up another one of their catches, he explained: "Just for comparison, that's what a regular lobster looks like next to it. I mean, look how pretty blue that is. That is crazy."

Numerous commenters went wild for the unusual lobster, as Darien Sutton said: "I chuckled when you compared to a 'regular lobster' just in case someone's just finding out lobsters aren't typically blue."

Robinluvsya commented: "I feel like 'rare' is the key word here."

Nacho Lozoya thought: "Nice, it is a beautiful blue."

CallMe.JOHNSON95 replied: "Blue is like one of the rare colors to find In nature."

After the clip went viral, he shared a followup a few hours later, confirming he threw the lobster back into the ocean.

Captioned "yes this Blue Lobster was released back into the ocean!" he said: "Definitely one of the most blue lobsters I've ever seen. You always see one once in a while with a hint of blue, but that is full blown, all over blue.

"And a very pretty blue at that, white underneath the claws. I wonder what this would look like cooked."

As he dropped her back into the sea, he added: "Maybe she can breed and create some more blue lobsters, so we'll let her go."

American lobsters can grow to be 100 years old, according to NOAA Fisheries, with the record weight being 45 pounds.

Explaining more about their coloring, NOAA Fisheries said: "'Red as a lobster' is just a tale. Lobsters come in just about every color but red. They can be blue, light yellow, greenish-brown, grey, dusty orange, some calico, and some with spots. However, they all turn red when they hit hot water."

Britannica, quoting Dr. Michael Tlusty, from the New England Aquarium, revealed what causes the different colors, and it's astaxanthin.

He said: "So when the lobsters eat the astaxanthin, the red pigment goes it into the skin, and that's where it shows up as being red. Then, the pigment gets moved up into the shell. And when it stores it in the shell, proteins grab the pigments and twist it around, and it actually turns to a blue color. And then later on, they get twisted again, and they turn yellow.

"So when we look at lobsters and any crustacean, you actually look through a layer of yellow pigment through a layer of blue pigment down to the skin, which is red. And it's all the stacking up of the different colors of that lets us see lobsters as this kind of muddy brown color."

The American lobster fishery occurs from Maine to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, but there are stipulations on what can be taken from the ocean, and how.

"By law, a female lobster carrying eggs must be thrown back if it is caught," NOAA Fisheries said.

The Ecology and Society journal explained more about the voluntary V-notch program, in an article shared in 2011, citing its benefits as a conservation practice.

It said: "V-notching lets fishermen take advantage of a program in which the state buys back from lobster pounds any lobsters that have extruded eggs while in captivity. Wardens mark these lobsters by notching a V in their tail.

"Such V-notched lobsters may not be harvested as long as the V-notch shows. To augment the size of the breeding stock, many fishermen also cut notches in the tails of egged lobsters before returning them to the ocean.

"There are now hundreds of thousands of V-notched lobsters in Maine waters."

People were blown away by the find in the comments, as Haass shared more information, claiming the first blue lobster he found was 10 years ago.

He raved about the find, and his industry, saying: "I absolutely love this career and what Mother Nature has to offer. This is one of the best parts."

Amid speculation the blue lobster was deceased, he clarified: "Not dead just very calm! You can see her move her legs right befor[e] I released her."

Update 9/15/22, 10:22 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment and video from Haass.