Fisherman catches one-in-two-million blue lobster off Cornish coast

An extremely rare blue lobster was discovered by a fisherman along the coast of Cornwall before being released back into the sea.

Tom Lambourn was fishing off the coastal town of Penzance when he captured the foot-long crustacean.

The fisherman photographed the rare ‘one-in-two-million’ creature before releasing it back into the sea.

“With every pot you never know what is going to be inside, and I’ve certainly never seen one that colour before,” Lambourn told the Daily Mail.

“I measured it and it was undersized so there was never any thought of keeping it. If it had been bigger, I would have taken it to the National Hatchery. I sent them some photos of the lobster and they told me it is one-in-two-million so that is quite special.”

“It is very, very rare and very interesting to see a blue lobster,” Ben Marshall, National Lobster Hatchery supervisor, told the Daily Mail.

“The skipper threw it back as it was under the length you are allowed to catch lobsters in Cornwall (12ins).”

Blue lobsters acquire their colour as a result of a genetic defect that causes them to produce excessive levels of protein.