After more than two decades on the water, local lobsterman Jeff Flynn made the catch of a lifetime this week when he pulled up a rare blue lobster just off Marblehead.
Flynn said the brightly colored crustacean appeared in one of his final traps of the day near Cat Island Bell, also known as Marblehead Bell, off Children’s Island.
“At first, I thought it was just a hunk of plastic that floated into the trap,” Flynn said. “Then I realized, oh my God, we got a blue one. It was the brightest blue one I’ve ever seen.”
Blue lobsters occur naturally only once in several million, scientists estimate. Though Flynn has caught a few unusual lobsters in his 22 years of fishing, including calico lobsters with yellow spots, he said this one topped them all.
Although Flynn’s catch is considered a rare one, another blue lobster named Neptune, was donated to the Northeastern University Marine Science Center in Nahant by a lobsterman from Salem last month. This could raise the question as to whether 1 in 2 million is accurate in 2025.
The lobster, a female that had not yet grown to legal size, was released back into the ocean. Flynn said he hopes it survives predators, such as striped bass, and that he might see it again in future seasons.
“I’m hoping when I threw it over that the striped bass didn’t eat it,” Flynn said. “Hopefully it’s in the rocks somewhere enjoying its freedom.”
The find also made an impression on Flynn’s sternman, Rick Doan, who has worked offshore for years but had never been aboard a boat when a blue lobster was caught.
Flynn said he plans to continue lobstering through November, but the memory of this catch will stay with him.
“It was the catch of a lifetime for me,” he said.