1-in-2M find: 14-year-old, dad nab blue lobster

SCARBOROUGH, Maine — A rare sight made landfall in a lobsterman's trap Saturday.

Jay LaPlante with the Miss Meghan's Lobster Catch company caught a blue lobster around 10:45 a.m. ET Saturday off Pine Point here, about 10 miles southwest of Portland, Maine.

LaPlante and his 14-year-old daughter, Meghan, were hauling traps when she discovered the 2-pound cerulean crustacean, the first time they've ever caught a blue lobster.

The find is like winning the lottery: Oceanographers estimate that only 1 in 2 million lobsters is blue, according to Lobster Institute at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine. The coloration comes from a genetic defect that causes the lobster to produce an excessive amount of a particular protein. Every other lobster is a dark green or brown until they hit boiling water.

Meghan named the lobster Skyler and said he will avoid the dinner plate. She is donating Skyler to the Maine State Aquarium in West Boothbay Harbor, Maine, about 30 miles northeast of Portland.

Skyler won't be alone, according to aquarium staff. He will join three other blue lobsters and an orange one in their tank.