Bobby Stoddard, a Canadian fisherman, caught an electric blue lobster in the Nova Scotia province of the country. Stoddard found the rare crustacean in May and now hopes to sell it to bidder with the highest offer.

After hauling it out the Atlantic Ocean, the fisherman was shocked at his discovery. Recalling the moment: “I turned around and said, ‘Holy smoke!’ – looks like we caught a pretty one.” What he had found was a lobster with a genetic defect.

Unlike the usual red lobsters, a genetic mutation causes the blue ones to have an overabundance of the astaxanthin-wrapping proteins. These tie-up all of the red astaxanthin into blue crustacyanin; thus making the lobster blue.

In nearby Maine, only one blue lobster is found every year or two. It reflects the fact that only one in every million turn out this way. Typically, these blue lobsters end up on display at public aquariums. In Stoddard’s case, he’d prefer that it would happen with his find too. He’s gone on to say that he won’t let the next owner eat it, which is good news considering that heat destroys the blue pigment and makes it look like the red ones anyway!

As a fisherman with 33 years experience in the field, it’s the first Stoddard has ever come across. He explained: “This is the only one that I’ve ever seen, and my dad has been a lobsterman of about 55 years, and he caught one about 45 years ago, but hadn’t seen one since.”

He concluded, stating: “I don’t know what the best thing is to do. It probably belongs back in the ocean, but I’d like for as many people as possible to see it first.”