Rare blue lobster is 'fantastic' find in North Shields

This rare blue lobster has avoided the boiling pot and become the talk of the town in North Shields.

The cerulean crustacean is believed to be as rare as one in two million. It was delivered to Collingwood Seafood on the Fish Quay early on March 12.

Owner Tony McLean was washing and preparing the lobster for the dinner plate when he uncovered the creature's skeleton.

Now, the fishmonger has taken the in-demand crustacean on a tour around the Fish Quay to pose for pictures with delighted neighbours.

Tony, 38, said: "We could not believe it. It was an instant jaw-dropping moment.

“We've all found it fantastic. I've taken him around the Fish Quay, and everyone has been taking pictures with him!

"I was so amazed and had to share him. There's been a bit of a buzz about him, and this is from people who have been on the Fish Quay for years.

"He is now sitting pride of place in my lobster tank!"

Fishmonger Tony, who has worked on the Fish Quay for 14 years, believes it is the first time a blue lobster has been caught off the coast at North Shields.

Lobsters are typically dark brown or grey before turning pink when cooked.

Newcastle University researcher Clare Fitzsimmons, who works in the school of marine science and technology, explains the European Lobster's unusually distinctive skeleton is down to a "genetic defect".

She said: "A lobster's colour is due to a pigment molecule called astaxanthin which is attached to a protein called crustacyanin.

"Bright blue lobsters have a genetic defect that causes them to produce an excess of the crustacyanin protein, very simplistically ‘diluting’ the colour and making them appear a brighter blue.

"One was caught off North Berwick in 2017, but made it to Swansea before a fishmonger realised how rare it was and saved it from cooking.

"They’ve been reported off the coast of Devon in recent years too."

Tony fears releasing the prized lobster back into the wild will see it recaptured by another fisherman who not be as "kind".

The fishmonger is now considering whether to donate the blue beauty to a local aquarium.