Though Haddie’s shell is quite a bit tougher than the soft floss of cotton candy, it’s just as pretty.
Haddie is a so-called cotton candy lobster caught in Casco Bay last weekend by Bill Coppersmith, a lobsterman for Get Maine Lobster, a direct-to-consumer company based in Portland. Her light blue shell, with hints of pink and purple, is about a 1 in 100 million find. The unusual coloration, according to National Geographic, could be the result of either a genetic mutation or a diet low in a pigment called astaxanthin.
Coppersmith has been fishing for 40 years, and Haddie – named after his granddaughter – is his first cotton candy lobster. For now, she is living in a tank at Get Maine Lobster, waiting for an aquarium or other organization to adopt her. And that’s probably a good thing since her unusual coloration could make her more vulnerable to predators.
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