A rare blue lobster is back in the open ocean after a brief stint as a landlubber’s lucky pet.
The colourful crustacean was captured about three weeks ago by fisherman in Arisaig, N.S. and adopted by an admiring fish plant worker, who aptly named her “Blue.”
“It’s special,” the worker, Tim Wallace, told CTV Atlantic. “So it ain’t going with the rest of them. It’s the luckiest lobster here.”
Unlike her red-hued brethren, Blue wasn’t destined for the dinner table. She was kept in her own tank at the fish plant and fed bits of redfish and herring.
Blue lobsters are considered good luck amongst fisherman. Estimates suggest that about one in two million lobsters are born with the unusual cerulean shell, which happens when a lobster has a surplus of a particular protein.
On Thursday, a small gathering at a Nova Scotia beach bid adieu to the lucky lobster.
After saying a few words, Wallace plunked Blue back into the sea and watched as she swam away.
Her release comes as fisherman in parts of the Northumberland Strait packed up their traps for the end of lobster season.
Last year, two Cape Breton fishermen said they captured two blue lobsters over the Victoria Day long weekend.
With files from CTV Atlantic
