Some albino animals are a dime a dozen (think rabbits). Others, like the albino moose spotted about a month ago, are extremely unusual. But few are as rare as the albino lobster. The pigment-free lobster only shows up once in every hundred million.
So it’s not surprising that a New Brunswick lobster fisherman who recently caught one of these “crystal lobsters” called it the catch of his career. Eugene Richard, at age sixty-four, has been fishing for almost sixty years and is soon to retire, but catching this exceedingly rare animal has been a crowning achievement of his time fishing.
Richard’s daughter, Caroline Richard, told CTV News that a biologist has confirmed that the lobster is, in fact, an albino. It is whitish in appearance but has a blue tint that is due to its blood showing through its colourless shell.
There are actually a few rare colour varieties of lobsters. The colour patterns are due to genetic mutations and can be quite striking. There are blue lobsters, yellow lobsters, and even two-tone lobsters who are split down the middle with a different colour on each side. However, the albino lobster is the most unusual of them all, lacking any colour pigment whatsoever.
Fortunately, Richard’s rare find didn’t end up in the boiling pot. He has donated the animal to the New Brunswick Aquarium.
Related Story Brilliantly white albino moose spotted in Alaska
Related Story Rare albino raccoon spotted in Richmond Hill